Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Closure checks
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-03
2004-12-28
Mah, Chuck Y. (Department: 3676)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Closure checks
C292S251500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06834414
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a doorknob, and more particularly to a doorknob cover which is provided with a means to attract magnetically or a means to be attracted magnetically, so as to enable the door to be held at an open position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As shown in
FIG. 1
to
FIG. 5
, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,635 discloses a doorknob cover
10
which is made of an elastic material, such as polyurethane, rubber, etc. The doorknob cover
10
is provided in the interior with a receive chamber
11
. The receive chamber
11
is provided with a circular opening
12
through which the doorknob “H” is inserted to press against an interior surface
13
of the receive chamber
11
, thereby enabling the doorknob cover
10
to fitting completely over the doorknob “H”. When the door “D” is forcibly opened to hit a wall “W”, the doorknob cover
10
is impacted to deform such that the reaction force is absorbed by a thickness “T” which is measured from the outermost surface of the doorknob cover
10
to the interior surface
13
, as illustrated in FIG.
2
and FIG.
3
. In light of the protective effect of the doorknob cover
10
, the doorknob “H” is provided with protection against damage in the event that the door “D” is slammed against the wall “W”.
The prior art doorknob cover
10
described above is defective in design in that the doorknob cover
10
is bound to bounce back upon hitting the wall “W”, as illustrated in FIG.
4
. As a result, the door “D” may accidentally hit a tray held in one hand of a person opening the door “D”. Such an incident may result in a messy situation. In order to prevent the incident from taking place, the person may use one of his or her hips to stop the door “D” from springing back. In addition, the door “D” may be playfully slammed against the wall “W” by the children, who are vulnerable to being hit on the face by the door “D” in the event that the doorknob cover
10
springs back fast upon hitting the wall “W”. In addition, the prior art doorknob cover
10
is by no means a handy device if it is used to fit with a doorknob “H′” which is provided with a push-button lock bolt “h”, as shown in FIG.
5
. In view of the fact that the push-button lock bolt “h” is completely obstructed by the “T2” portion of the doorknob cover
10
. The push-button lock bolt “h” can not be easily pushed to keep the doorknob H′ in the on-lock state. It might be even necessary that the doorknob cover
10
is entirely removed from the doorknob H′ so as to keep the doorknob H′ in the off-lock state. Moreover, the prior art doorknob cover
10
may bring about an inconvenience at the time when the door “D” is intentionally kept open to facilitate the moving of an object into or out of a room or house. The door that is kept open may be closed by the force of wind or other element. A wedge-shaped device is often used to arrest the door in such a way that the wedge-shaped device is placed between the bottom rail of the door and the floor surface.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a doorknob cover capable of being arrested by a wall toward which the door is swiveled, thereby enabling the door to be kept open without the use of a doorstop device. The doorknob cover of the present invention is adapted to a push-button doorknob without obstructing the push-button lock bolt of the push-button doorknob.
In keeping with the principle of the present invention, the foregoing objective of the present invention is attained by a doorknob cover which is provided at an outer end with a magnet or iron. A wall is provided with an iron or magnet corresponding in location to the doorknob. As the door is swiveled toward the wall, the doorknob cover is arrested by the wall in such a way that the magnet of the doorknob cover attracts the iron of the wall, or vice versa.
The features and the advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of four preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1830383 (1931-11-01), Bos
patent: 1860326 (1932-05-01), Jackson
patent: 2131067 (1938-09-01), Paden
patent: 2247592 (1941-07-01), Swift
patent: 2519435 (1950-08-01), Byrd, Jr.
patent: 2731056 (1956-01-01), Anson
patent: 3100664 (1963-08-01), Duval
patent: 3701557 (1972-10-01), Centofante et al.
patent: 4181339 (1980-01-01), Rigsby
patent: 4951984 (1990-08-01), Huang
patent: 5010622 (1991-04-01), Morita
patent: 5701635 (1997-12-01), Hawkes
patent: 5944368 (1999-08-01), Hastings
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