Abstract:
A tool holder designed for battery operated power tools is attachable to a belt and has a quick release to allow access to the power tool. The tool holder grasps the power tool at the handle between the battery pack of the tool and the housing containing the operative part. The tool holder is made of a flat material such as metal or a high-density plastic and comprises a mechanical latch that secures the power tool within the holder until the user disengages the latch to allow removal of the tool.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention is related to holding equipment and more particularly holding hand held equipment at a users side when not in use. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     People working in the construction and repair industry often use tool belts to keep small tools close at hand when not in use. Larger tools such as nail guns and electric drills are usually too bulky to be contained by existing tool belts; and therefore those larger tools are laid aside when not in use. If the movement of the person using the larger tools takes the person out of reach of the laid down tool, then that person must stop what they are doing and retrieved the tool. 
     Tool belts have been favorites of people who are in construction and are building housing and commercial buildings; however these tool belts have limitations and in general are limited to smaller hand tools. U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,605 (Dillenberger) is directed to an augmentation for a tool belt wherein additional fixtures for holding tools are added to the tool belt by sliding a male portion into a female portion attached to the tool belt. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,390 (Karpati) is directed to a belt-mounted holder for spackling items comprising horizontal portion for holding tools. U.S Patent Application 2007/0062013 (Mueller) is directed to a carabiner device comprising a handle that can carry devices around an area or as a work tool. Existing commercially are tool clips such as provided by Brigg Lugg, which have a belt clip and a bungee ball that can be wrapped around a tool such as a drill, and a Clip-Lock belt that carries a cordless drill of the same brand and can be attached or detached with a simple motion of the hand or fingers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an objective of the present invention to provide a tool holder for hand held power tools. 
     It is further an objective of the present invention to provide the capability for the tool holder to be coupled to the wearing apparel of the user. 
     It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a quick release of the hand held power tool from the tool holder. 
     The present invention is a tool holder for holding hand held power tools at the side of a user. A flat strap like material, comprising metal or a high-density plastic, is shaped to form a belt loop and a tool loop, or pocket. The tool loop is shaped to hold a battery powered hand tool, such as a nail gun, a power hand drill and a power screwdriver, and is formed in part by the flat material and in part by mechanical latch, or gate, attached to the flat material. The mechanical latch is spring loaded to keep the tool loop closed except when the user disengages the mechanical latch by pressing a thumb bar on the mechanical latch to allow the power tool contained within the tool loop to be removed by the user. When a power tool is placed into the tool holder, the power tool is pressed against the mechanical latch by the user, which disengages the mechanical latch and allows the power tool into the tool loop. The mechanical latch is then allowed to close under the force of the spring to maintain the power tool within the tool loop, or pocket, formed by the flat material and the mechanical gate. The tool loop grasps the battery operated hand held power tool between the battery power pack and the housing containing the operational portion of the power tool. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       This invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of the side view of the tool holder of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a top view of the tool holder of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2B  is a cut a way view of the mechanical latch mechanism of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3A  is a front view of the tool holder of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3B  is a back view of the tool holder of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In  FIG. 1  is shown a side view of the J-shaped tool holder  10  of the present invention. The tool holder is designed to hold hand held power tools, i.e. battery powered nail guns, battery powered screwdrivers and battery powered drills or similar equipment, close to the user when the tools are not in use. A flat material  11  made from metal, high-density plastic or other matter than can maintain a formed shape is used to form the tool holder  10 . The tool holder can be thought of having two portions. The first portion is a belt loop  12  in which the material has been folded back and attached with fasteners  13  to the second portion of the tool holder  10 . The belt loop opening has a height greater than its width, as shown in  FIG. 1 . It should be noted that it is within the scope of the present invention that the tool holder is directly attached by fasteners to an existing tool belt or similar device without the need for the belt loop  12 . The second portion forms a tool loop  14 , or pocket, that holds the battery operated power tools when not in use. 
     A mechanical latch  15 , or mechanical gate, is attached by fasteners  16  to the first portion that forms the belt loop  12 . The arm of the mechanical latch  15  is held in contact with a male latch element  17  on the end of the second portion by a wound torsion spring  25  ( FIG. 2B ) to maintain a tool in the tool loop  14  while not in use. A thumb bar  18  allows a user to disengage the mechanical latch  15  with the male latch element  17  and remove the battery operated power tool from the tool loop  14 . 
     The dimensions of the tool holder  10  are dependent upon the tools that are to be held by the user. For exemplary purposes the approximate vertical height V is approximately about nine inches, the horizontal width H 1  of the tool holder is approximately about four inches and the horizontal width H 2  of the tool loop  14  is approximately about three inches. The tool loop  14  continuously narrows from the mouth  30  to the rounded bottom  32 . The hand held power tool is grasped by the tool loop  14  on the handle between the battery power pack and the housing of the power tool containing the operating mechanism. It should be noted that it is within the scope of the present invention that the shape and dimensions of the tool holder  10  can be adjusted depending upon the tools that are to be held within the tool loop  14  without changing the intent or claims of the present invention. 
     Continuing to refer to  FIG. 1 , with the tool holder  10  attached to a belt of the apparel of a user, a hand held power tool is placed into the mouth  30  of the tool loop  14 , located adjacent to the mechanical latch  15 , by pressing the tool downwardly on and past the arm of the mechanical latch  15  after which the arm of the mechanical latch  15  is allowed to return to a closed position under the force of the spring  25  in contact with the male latch element  17 . The power tool is now contained within the rounded bottom portion  32  of the tool loop  14 . To remove a power tool from the tool loop, the user presses the thumb bar  18 , which disengages the mechanical latch  15  from the male latch element and allows the power tool to be removed from the tool holder  10 . 
     In  FIG. 2A  is show a top view of the tool holder  10 . The arm of the mechanical latch  15  is shown in contact with the male latch element  17  at the end of the second portion of the tool holder  10 . The thumb bar  8  is shown coupled to one side of the arm of the mechanical latch  15 . It should be noted that the thumb bar  18  can be on either or both sides of the arm of the arm of the mechanical latch to accommodate both right handed and left handed users. The mechanical latch  15  is coupled to a housing  22  that allows to the arm of the mechanical latch to pivot. The housing is attached to the first portion of the tool holder as previously described.  FIG. 2B  shows a cross section of the arm of the mechanical latch  15  and the housing  22 . A spring  25  is shown that maintains the arm of the mechanical latch  15  in contact with the male latch element  17  except when overridden by the user when inserting a tool in the tool loop or removing a tool from the tool loop. 
       FIG. 3A  shows a front view of the tool holder  10 . The housing  22  that allows the arm of the mechanical latch  15  to rotate is attached to the front part of the first portion of the tool loop, which forms the belt loop  12 , using fasteners  16 .  FIG. 3B  shows the back view of the tool holder  10  where the end of the material  26  in the first portion that forms the belt loop is connected with fasteners  13  to the material of the second portion, which forms the tool loop  14 . The width W of the material forming the tool holder  10  can be any dimension that is wide enough to accommodate the housing  22  of the mechanical latch and grasp the power tool between the battery power pack and the housing containing the operative mechanism of the power tool. It should be noted that the tool holder  10  can be used with any tool in which a portion of that tool can be held by the tool loop in part or in total, with and without a battery power pack. 
     While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.