Compact dics holder

A compact disc holder for a conventional jewel box has a unitary body and a closure plate. The unitary body has a chamber with a planar top for the jewel box and an attached tab. The tab has a ridge which rises out of the plane of the tab and is angled towards the planar top of the chamber. The ridged tab renders the compact disc holder resistant to folding and facilitates proper placement of the compact disc holder in a display box.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an inexpensive compact disc holder which 
renders a compact disc less susceptible to theft at point of sale and 
which furthers proper placement in a display box. 
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
Compact discs are typically packaged in a hinged storage box, commonly 
called a "jewel box", having dimensions very similar to the disc and in 
which the disc is stored after purchase. A booklet is conventionally 
included with each compact disc. The front cover of the booklet has the 
album cover graphics and the inside contains the liner notes. The booklet 
is held behind tabs inside the front cover of the jewel box such that the 
front cover of the booklet is visible through the storage box. A wrapper, 
commonly called a "J-card", with the program listing is also typically 
provided, visible through the rear cover of the jewel box. The wrapper is 
sandwiched between the rear cover and a disc holder which is snapped into 
the rear section of the jewel box. Usually the wrapper extends around the 
ends of the disc holder to form panels that are imprinted with the title 
of the album and the name of the artist such that this information can be 
read through the spine of the storage box. 
Compact discs are expensive as compared to cassette tapes and, because of 
their size and value, are particularly prey to theft. Outer packaging has 
been developed to foil theft but none is entirely satisfactory. For 
example, one type of retail container is made of paperboard with graphics 
printed directly thereon. The jewel box and the booklet are inserted into 
the paperboard container which is then sealed. This kind of container is 
relatively expensive because of the custom graphics and is easily opened 
in a retail outlet. Due to its opaque construction, pilferage of a disc is 
not easy to discover. 
Another commonly used retail container for compact discs is a blister pack 
which contains the jewel box and the booklet and is formed of a relatively 
sturdy transparent plastic. Such blister packs are difficult to open by 
the customer and do not display the title of the album and name of the 
artist for easy viewing from an edge of the package. Sometimes the 
customer puts the blister pack back into the display bin, right side up 
and face forward, and sometimes not. 
The outer packaging adds no value to the customer or to the retail merchant 
other than to reduce theft. From the customer's standpoint, an ideal 
package would be easy to open after purchase but from the merchant's 
standpoint difficult to open in a store without being detected. Minimizing 
packaging costs, while not interfering with the display of the 
merchandise, is also important from the retailer's standpoint. In 
addition, it would be an advance if the packaging motivated a shopper to 
put the merchandise back in a display with the title of the album and name 
of the artist right side up and facing the next customer. It would be a 
further benefit, if similar packaging was available for compact discs and 
for cassette tapes such that discs and cassettes could be sold from a 
display case with a plurality of similar-sized pigeon holes. More compact 
discs (and cassettes) would be sold if there was packaging which met the 
above mentioned goals. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide 
an inexpensive compact disc holder that is larger than a disc and 
resistant to folding such that a disc stored in the holder is less 
susceptible to theft. It is another object to provide a compact disc 
holder that allows a shopper to read one of the end panels of the jewel 
box as it sits in a display. A further object is to provide a compact disc 
holder that furthers proper placement of the holder in a display box such 
that one of the end panels is visible. Other objects and features of the 
invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter. 
In accordance with the invention, a compact disc holder for holding a jewel 
box containing a compact disc or some other recording media has a unitary 
body and a closure plate. The body has a longitudinal axis, a top surface 
and a bottom surface. There is a generally rectangular chamber for a jewel 
box formed in the body with a substantially planar top wall joined at its 
edges by side and end walls. The chamber side and end walls open on the 
bottom surface of the body. A substantially planar tab is formed in the 
body attached to one of the end walls, the tab having at least one ridge 
with first and second ends and a top wall coplanar with the top wall of 
the chamber. The ridge is generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of 
the body, running substantially the length of the tab. The ridge merges 
with the top wall of the chamber at its first end and rises out of the 
plane of the tab and is sloped towards the top wall of the chamber at its 
second end. The closure plate closes the chamber at the bottom surface of 
the body, forming a holder that is resistant to folding perpendicular to 
its longitudinal axis such that the compact disc is less susceptible to 
theft and the ridge furthers proper placement of the holder in a display 
box. 
The invention summarized above comprises the constructions hereinafter 
described, the scope of the invention being indicated by the subjoined 
claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference character, 
reference numeral 10 refers to a compact disc holder in accordance with 
the present invention. Compact disc holder 10 holds a hinged storage box 
12, commonly called a "jewel box" in which a compact disc is stored. Jewel 
box 12 is of a conventional type and has a booklet 14 (seen in FIG. 5) 
with album cover graphics on its front cover. Booklet 14 is held inside 
the front cover of jewel box 12 such that the front cover of the booklet 
is visible through the storage box. A wrapper 16 (seen in FIG. 2) with the 
program listing is also provided, visible through the rear cover of jewel 
box 12. Wrapper 16 is sandwiched between the rear cover and a disc holder 
which is snapped into the rear section of jewel box 12. Wrapper 16 extends 
around the ends of the disc holder to form panels 18 (seen in FIG. 5) that 
are imprinted with the title of the album, the name of the artist or the 
like such that this information can be read through the spine of the 
storage box. 
In major part, compact disc holder 10 has a unitary body 20 and a closure 
plate 22. Body 20 has a longitudinal axis 24, a lateral axis 26, a top 
surface 28 and a bottom surface 30. Bottom surface 30 preferably forms a 
generally rectangular footprint. As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, a 
generally square chamber 32 for jewel box 12 is formed at one end of body 
20 with its longitudinal axis coinciding with longitudinal axis 24 of 
holder 10. Chamber 32 is sized to accept jewel box 12 and has a 
substantially planar top wall 34 joined at its edges by side walls 36, 38 
and end walls 40, 42. Chamber 32 opens at bottom surface 30 along a bottom 
edge of the side and end walls. 
Side walls 36, 38 and end wall 40 extend at substantially right angles to 
said planar top wall 34 whereas end wall 42 may flare outwardly as shown 
in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,824. This slight taper (when present) makes the 
base of chamber 32 somewhat larger than the top of jewel box 12 and 
facilitates insertion of jewel box 12 into the holder. Right and left 
trapezoidal flaps 44, 46 are attached to side walls 36, 38 opposite top 
wall 34 and a third, trapezoidal flap 48 is attached to the bottom edge of 
end wall 40. A line of perforations 50 is formed at the base of flaps 44, 
46 and 48 to facilitate folding as shown in FIG. 1. Non-parallel sides 52 
of trapezoidal flaps 44, 46 and non-parallel sides 54 of third, 
trapezoidal flap 48 are sloped to form a mitered corner 56. 
A substantially planar, rectangular tab 58 is formed in body 20 and is 
attached to chamber 32 along the bottom edge of end wall 42. Tab 58 has at 
least one ridge 60 generally parallel to longitudinal axis 24, rising out 
of the plane of tab 58 and angled towards the plane of top wall 34. In the 
form illustrated in FIGS. 1, and 3-5, a pair of parallel spaced apart 
ridges 60 are provided. Ridges 60 have a top wall 62 that is coplanar with 
top wall 34 of chamber 32 and side and end edges. The side edges of each 
ridge 60 are joined to side walls 64, which because jewel box 12 is 
thinner than a cassette box, need not flare outwardly with a reinforcing 
rib as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,824. Top wall 62 merges with top wall 34 of 
chamber 32 at one end of the ridge and joins at a dihedral angle with an 
end wall 66 at the other end. Ridges 60 are spaced inboard of the side 
edges of tab 58 such that tab 58 forms a flange 68 at the base of side 
walls 64 and end wall 66 and a web 70 interconnecting the base of the 
ridges. An aperture 72 is provided in tab 58 opposite chamber 32 to 
receive a retail display rod for use in one mode of retail display. 
Closure plate 22 is provided for closing chamber 32 at bottom surface 30 of 
body 20. Closure plate 22 preferably conforms to the footprint of body 20 
and includes a window 74 through which the program listing on wrapper 16 
can be read. In the form shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, plate 22 is attached to 
body 20 along flange 68 across web 70, to folded flaps 44, 46 and 48 and, 
to a small section of jewel box 12 which is typically packaged in a clear 
plastic wrap. In other embodiments, for example, the frame around window 
74 may be omitted at end flap 48 and end flap 48 elongated to cover the 
window. 
While compact disc holder 10 is illustrated with chamber 32 sized for 
receipt of one jewel box 10, it will be understood that the chamber may 
have a depth for receipt of more than one jewel box. Similarly, the width 
or length of chamber 32 may be arranged such two or more jewel boxes are 
received side-by-side or end-to-end. Also included are other recording 
mediums, with the exception of cassette tapes which are the subject matter 
of U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,824, the storage box for which may differ slightly 
in thickness and in width and length. 
Body 20 is preferably thermoformed along with a plurality of other bodies 
from a sheet of clear plastic material or the like. The thermoforming 
process is well known in the art and basically involves vacuum-forming or 
molding a heated sheet of plastic material, into a mold, allowing it to 
set and then removing it from the mold. Suitable materials for this 
purpose include polyvinyl chloride having a thickness from about 8 to 15 
mils and entirely satisfactory results have been obtained with sheets of 
polyvinyl chloride only 9 mils thick. Thicker material (i.e., greater than 
15 mils) can be used but is more expensive and unnecessary. After the 
plastic has been removed from the mold, the outer edges of body 20 are 
trimmed and perforations 50 cut in a die-cutting operation, as is known in 
the art. Body 20 can then be nested with other bodies, such that a large 
number of bodies can be shipped and stored in relatively little space. 
Closure plate 22 may be printed with an advertising message and is 
preferably die cut from a sheet of cardboard. For expediency, the message 
is generic to a group of compact discs (e.g., all those pre-priced at 
$9.99 and so forth) such that the plate does not have to be matched to a 
particular recording thus simplifying assembly of compact disc holder 10. 
An adhesive 76 is applied to closure plate 22 for attachment to body 20 as 
described above. Preferably the adhesive is of a type that is passive 
prior to sealing of compact disc holder 10 such that it can be applied to 
the sheet of cardboard before the plates are die cut and such that a stack 
of plates can be stored without sticking together. Such an adhesive 
advantageously comprises a dry film that is heat sealed to body 20 after 
jewel box 12 is put into chamber 32. 
In use, compact discs can be offered for sale in compact disc holder 10 
either hung on a display rod or in a point of sale box or crate 78 which 
may be organized as illustrated in FIG. 6, preferably with a plurality of 
pigeon holes 80. When the compact discs are sold in a box, a shopper is 
more likely to put compact disc holder 10 back with side panel 18 facing 
outwardly. This is because compact disc holder 10 is weighted towards the 
disc end and a person tends to hold a package at its center of gravity, 
while the graphics on the front cover of booklet 14 favor holding it right 
side up. Starting from this natural position as shown in FIG. 5, sloped 
end wall 66 allows compact disc holder 10 to be easily slipped between 
similar upper and lower (or right and left) compact disc holders 82, 84. 
During reshelving, upper compact disc holder 82 cams up sloped end wall 66 
and then slides along top wall 62 until the compact disc holder being 
inserted is stopped by the back wall for the display box at which point 
compact disc holders 10, 82 and 84 are lined up. Side panels 18 are 
visible and the display is neat. 
A mixed inventory of compact discs and cassettes can be offered as shown in 
FIG. 6 by making pigeon holes 80 nominally the width of a cassette tape 
holder as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,824 and the height of compact 
disc holder 10. Since compact disc holder 10 is wider than pigeon hole 80, 
the shape of the pigeon hole promotes reshelving of compact disc holders 
10 vertically, whereas the shape of pigeon hole 80 also promotes 
reshelving of the cassette tape holders horizontally, keeping a mixed 
display neat. As shown in the drawings, each pigeon hole 80 contains 7 
cassette tape holders stacked horizontally and 9 compact disc holders 10 
arranged vertically. Other arrangements are of course possible and may, in 
some instances, be preferred. 
In addition to favoring proper placement in a display, compact disc holder 
10 is resistant to folding perpendicular to longitudinal axis 24 and jewel 
box 12 cannot be removed from the holder without mutilating the package. 
Compact disc holder 10 is less susceptible to theft because it is too big 
to be easily hidden in a pocket or purse and not easily opened without 
being detected. Product can therefore be offered for sale out of view of a 
store clerk and the display need not be near the checkout counter. 
In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the 
invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained. As various 
changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from 
the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in 
the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be 
interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.