Buckles – buttons – clasps – etc. – Article holder attachable to apparel or body – Article held by clip
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-14
2001-11-27
Sakran, Victor N. (Department: 3626)
Buckles, buttons, clasps, etc.
Article holder attachable to apparel or body
Article held by clip
C024S003300, C024S003110, C224S269000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321418
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed, in general, to technology for mounting and carrying items and, more specifically, to a belt clip for mounting and carrying on one's person a small item such as a pager or a cellular telephone.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Reliable predictions indicate that there will be over three hundred million (300,0000,000) cellular telephone customers worldwide by the year 2000. Almost all cellular telephones are hand-held units that are completely portable. When a person carries a cellular telephone, he or she can either hold the telephone manually or keep the telephone in a garment pocket. Many cellular telephone users desire to avoid the inconvenience of continually carrying the telephone by hand and the awkwardness of storing the telephone in a pocket and retrieving the phone from the pocket.
To do this, many cellular telephone users attach to their cellular telephone a belt clip that may be attached to any garment edge, such as the edge of a pocket or, more commonly, the edge of a belt or waistband. The cellular telephone is detachably coupled to the clip, usually with a threaded machine screw that screws into a threaded receptacle in the back of the telephone. The belt clip with the telephone attached to it is then placed over and clipped onto the user's belt or waistband.
The telephone conveniently hangs on the user's belt until the user needs to use the telephone. When the telephone is needed, the user removes the belt clip (with the telephone attached) from the belt and uses the telephone. When the telephone is no longer needed, the user again places the belt clip (with the telephone attached) over the belt. The use of a belt clip for carrying a cellular telephone in such a manner has become widespread.
It is not easy to quickly place prior art belt clips into position over a user's belt. Many times a user finds it difficult to quickly maneuver a prior art belt clip into its proper position. This is due to the fact that the width of the leading edge of prior art belt clips is large compared to the space between the user's belt and the user's clothes through which the leading edge of the belt clip must pass in order to be placed into its proper position.
For example, in the case of a belt worn with trousers, the belt typically passes through belt loops sewn at intervals along the top edge of the trousers. The belt loops serve to secure the belt in place and (when the belt is buckled) assist in holding the belt sufficiently close to the surface of the trousers to keep the trousers in place. In this position the belt lies in close contact with the surface of the material of the trousers all around the top edge of the trousers.
A user attempting to place a belt clip between the belt and the trouser material that immediately faces the belt must force the belt away from the trouser material in order to make an opening large enough for the leading edge of the belt clip to pass through. The user usually attempts to do this by pushing the leading edge of the belt clip up to the juncture between the belt and the trouser material and moving the leading edge of the belt clip around to displace the belt from its position next to the trouser material. After the user succeeds in inserting the leading edge of the belt clip into the space between the belt and the trouser material, the user then pushes the belt clip down into place between the belt and the trouser material.
Placing the belt clip over the belt in this manner may require several attempts because the width of the leading edge of the belt clip is large in relation to the space that normally exists between the belt and the trouser material. In addition, the leading edge of the belt clip that must be inserted between the belt and the trouser material is under a spring loaded pressure to force the leading edge of the belt clip firmly against the back of the cellular telephone. Also, users frequently attempt to accomplish the placement of the belt clip with one hand while that hand is holding the cellular telephone and belt clip combination. Under such circumstances a user generally can not consistently place the belt clip into position quickly and easily.
It is also not uncommon for users to encounter similar difficulties when removing the belt clip from its position on the user's belt.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To address the deficiencies of such prior art belt clips, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved belt clip for carrying a small item such as a pager or a cellular telephone or a similar type of portable item.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a belt clip that may be quickly and easily placed into position on the user's belt, waistband, pocket, lapel, cuff or other garment edge.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a belt clip that may be quickly and easily removed from its position on the user's belt, waistband, pocket, lapel, cuff or other garment edge.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a belt clip that may be quickly and easily placed into position on any item having an edge having the appropriate dimensions to receive the belt clip.
The apparatus of the present invention will be described as an improved belt clip attached to a cellular telephone. It is important to realize that the apparatus of the present invention is not limited to use only with a cellular telephone. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that the principles of the present invention may also be successfully applied to carry other types of lightweight portable items such as pagers, keys on keychains, badges, small tools, tape measures, calculators, hand held computers, computer devices, medical monitors, data recording machines, computerized clipboard devices, and the like. However, in the descriptions that follow, a cellular telephone is employed for illustration purposes.
An advantageous embodiment of the present invention comprises a belt clip having a belt clip body that is capable of being attached to the back of a cellular telephone. The belt clip body is formed having portions that define a bottom flange. The bottom flange is urged into contact with the back of the cellular telephone by pressure from the spring action of a curved clip plate. When the belt clip and cellular telephone combination is clipped onto a user's belt, the pressure of the flange against the back of the cellular telephone assists in keeping the belt clip and cellular telephone combination on the user's belt.
An advantageous embodiment of the present invention comprises an improved flange that is formed having portions that define two different flange surfaces. The first flange surface is flat and abuts the back of the cellular telephone. The second flange surface is also flat but lies in a plane that is disposed at an angle with respect to the plane of the first flange surface. The second flange surface does not abut the back of the cellular telephone.
A space or “notch” is formed between the second flange surface and the back of the cellular telephone. The presence of the space or “notch” between the second flange surface and the cellular telephone facilitates the placement of the belt clip of the present invention onto the user's belt. The space or “notch” also facilitates the removal of the belt clip of the present invention from the user's belt.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those ski
iLife Ssytems, Inc.
Sakran Victor N.
LandOfFree
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