Patent Application
20240416501
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The disclosure relates to toolboxes and more particularly pertains to a new toolbox for portably storing tools.
Myriad toolboxes are disclosed by the prior art, but the prior art does not describe a toolbox with a pivoting holder for holding a plurality of elongated tools in vertical orientations when the pivoting holder is oriented upright. Such an apparatus is advantageous over the prior art because the pivoting holder may be pivoted to tilt the elongated tools downwardly and fit the toolbox with the elongated tools in a shorter space than would otherwise be achievable.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a container having a base wall, a pair of lateral walls, and a rear wall. Each of the rear wall and the pair of lateral walls is coupled to and extends upwardly from the base wall. The rear wall is coupled to and extends between the pair of lateral walls. A pivoting holder is coupled to the container. The pivoting holder is spaced forwardly of the rear wall with respect to the container and extends between the pair of lateral walls. The pivoting holder defines a front slot therein which has an open top. The front slot has a size such that the pivoting holder is configured for holding a plurality of elongated tools in vertical orientations. The pivoting holder and the rear wall define an interior space therebetween. The pivoting holder is pivotable with respect to the container and is positionable in a raised position defined by the pivoting holder extending vertically upwardly from the base wall. The pivoting holder is pivotable rearwardly and downwardly with respect to the container from the raised position such that the pivoting holder forms an acute angle between the base wall the pivoting holder.
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 pivoting holder 22 is coupled to the container 12. The pivoting holder 22 is spaced forwardly of the rear wall 18 with respect to the container 12 and extends between the pair of lateral walls 16. The pivoting holder 22 defines a front slot 24 therein and has an open top 26. The front slot 24 has a size such that the pivoting holder 22 is configured for holding a plurality of elongated tools 50 in vertical orientations. The pivoting holder 22 and the rear wall 18 define an interior space 28 therebetween. The pivoting holder 22 is pivotable with respect to the container 12 and is positionable in a raised position 30 defined by the pivoting holder 22 extending vertically upwardly from the base wall 14. The pivoting holder 22 is pivotable rearwardly and downwardly with respect to the container 12 from the raised position 30 such that the pivoting holder 22 forms an acute angle between the base wall 14 the pivoting holder 22.
A locking pin 32 is engageable with the pivoting holder 22 and one of the pair of lateral walls 16 in a locking position to secure the pivoting holder 22 in the raised position 30. The locking pin 32 is biased toward the locking position. A plurality of front dividers 34 is positioned in the front slot 24 and is configured to facilitate distributing the plurality of elongated tools 50 along a width of the front slot 24 extending laterally with respect to the container 12.
An interior wall 36 is positioned in the interior space 28 and is spaced from the rear wall 18 of the container 12. The interior wall 36 and the rear wall 18 define a rear slot 38 therebetween which has an open upper end 40. The rear slot 38 has a size such that the rear slot 38 is configured for holding the plurality of elongated tools 50 in vertical orientations. A height of the interior wall 36 is less than a height of the rear wall 18 of the container 12 such that the open upper end 40 of the rear slot 38 is inset relative to a top edge 42 of the rear wall 18. A plurality of rear dividers 44 is positioned in the rear slot 38 and is configured to facilitate distributing the plurality of elongated tools 50 along a width of the rear slot 38 extending laterally with respect to the container 12.
The interior wall 36 and the pivoting holder 22 define a compartment 46 therebetween which has a depth of the compartment 46 taken between the pivoting holder 22 and the interior wall 36 is greater than a depth of the front slot 24 taken parallel to the depth of the compartment 46 and greater than a depth of the rear slot 38 taken parallel to the depth of the compartment 46. The compartment 46 also extends between the pair of lateral walls 16 of the container 12 A handle 48 is pivotally coupled to the pair of lateral walls 16 and is pivotable around a horizontal axis extending laterally through the container 12.
In use, the elongated tools 50 of the plurality of elongated tools 50 are stored in either the front slot 24 of the pivoting holder 22 or the rear slot 38. The pivoting holder 22 may be pivoted rearwardly and downwardly from the raised position 30 to lower a farthest extent of each one of a set of the plurality of elongated tools 50 that are held in the front slot 24. Pivoting the pivoting holder 22 in this manner enables the toolbox apparatus 10 to store more compactly and fit into shorter spaces than the toolbox apparatus 10 would otherwise be able to fit in while holding the set of the plurality of elongated tools 50. Because of this compacting action, the elongated tools 50 of the plurality of elongated tools 50 that are stored in the front slot 24 should be longer than the elongated tools 50 stored in the rear slot 38 to take full advantage of the compacting action. Other tools 52 which do not fit in either the front slot 24 or the rear slot 38 may be placed in the compartment 46 between the pivoting holder 22 and the interior wall 36.
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.
