Card display holder and protector

A display device and protector suitable for holding a card or card-like object comprising a transparent first panel and a transparent second panel connected together along a common hinge line, the first panel having a recessed portion for receiving the card to be held, the recessed portion having a bottom surface for contacting a first surface of the card, the second panel having a projecting surface for engaging a second surface of the card, the projecting surface having a height above a base surface of the second panel which is less than a depth of the recessed portion of the first panel by the approximate thickness of the card and further comprising a mating projection and recess disposed in side walls of the recessed portion of the first panel and the projecting surface of the second panel for maintaining the first and second panels in a closed position after the first and second panels are moved toward each other by folding along the common hinge line whereby the bottom surface engages the first surface of the card and the projecting surface engages the second surface of the card, thereby allowing display of the card.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to the field of image-bearing medium display 
devices, and in particular, to such a display device which functions as a 
holder/protector for an image-bearing medium, for example, a sports card, 
such as a baseball card. 
Various display devices for displaying and protecting image-bearing media 
such as cards and the like are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,200,527, 1,932,464, 4,624,875, 2,650,444, 4,602,447 and 2,725,913 show 
various types of display devices. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,527 to Clark discloses a hinged snap-lock container for 
holding, for exposure or viewing, film transparencies, photographs or 
paintings. The container of Clark has a front and a back panel which are 
attached by a thin integral hinged line 15 as shown in FIG. 2 of the 
patent. A plurality of snap-lock portions are provided on the inside 
surface of the front and back panels to enable the front and back panels 
to be secured to each other. 
U.S. Pat. No. 1,932,464 to Hyde discloses a lantern slide holder which also 
has a hinged line 15, but the front and back panels are secured together 
after folding along the hinged line by a plurality of flaps, for example, 
flaps 8, 9 and 10 as shown in FIG. 1 thereof. The other patents mentioned 
above show various other card holders and are exemplary of the prior art. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a card display holder 
and protector suitable for displaying, holding and protecting, for 
example, sports cards, such as baseball cards. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a card 
display holder and protector which protects the card, and especially its 
edges from damage. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a card 
display holder and protector which is simple and inexpensive to make. 
It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide such a 
card display holder and protector which can be conveniently stacked with 
other card display holders and protectors for storage. 
It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide a card 
display holder which provides a simple means for securing a card to be 
protected between two transparent display panels of the holder and 
protector. 
The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a 
display device and protector suitable for holding a card or card-like 
object comprising a transparent first panel and a transparent second panel 
connected together along a common hinge line, the first panel having a 
recessed portion having a depth for receiving the card to be held, the 
recessed portion having a bottom surface for contacting a first surface of 
the card, the second panel having a projecting surface having a height for 
engaging a second surface of the card, the height of said projecting 
surface above a base surface of the second panel being less than the depth 
of the recessed bottom surface of the first panel by the approximate 
thickness of the card and further comprising mating projection and recess 
means disposed in side walls of the recessed portion of the first panel 
and the projecting surface of the second panel for maintaining the first 
and second panels in a closed position after said first and second panels 
are moved toward each other by folding along said common hinge line 
whereby the bottom surface engages the first surface of the card and the 
projecting surface engages the second surface of the card, thereby 
allowing display of the card. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent 
from the detailed description which follows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
With reference now to the drawings, the card holder and protector according 
to the present invention is identified generally by reference numeral 10. 
As shown, the card holder and protector can be formed of a single piece of 
transparent plastic, for example, 0.015 thick polyvinyl chloride (PVC). 
The card holder and protector 10 comprises a front panel 12 and a rear 
panel 14. Front panel 12 is formed with a recess 16 into which a card 15 
to be protected, as shown in FIG. 2, is inserted. Recess 16 is essentially 
co-extensive with the major portion of the area of the front panel, with 
the exception of small edge portions 18, as shown in the drawings. 
The card holder and protector back panel 14 includes a projecting surface 
20, which essentially is coextensive with the surface area 16 of the 
recess provided in the front panel. Projecting surface 20 projects from 
the planar base surface of the plastic sheet from which the card is made 
by an amount X as shown clearly in FIG. 4. The distance X is less than the 
distance Y by which the recessed portion of the front panel 12 is disposed 
below the edge portions 18 by an amount equal to the approximate thickness 
of the card 15. Similarly to the front panel, the back panel 14 has edge 
portions 22. As shown in FIG. 5, edge portion 18 may have a greater 
horizontal extent than edge portion 22, or vice versa in order to 
facilitate opening the holder when closed. 
An integral hinge 24 is molded into the plastic sheet and connects the 
front panel 12 to the back panel 14. 
Projecting surface 20 of the back panel 14 includes along its periphery, an 
intermediate surface 25 disposed at a height Z intermediate the base 
surface 22 and the height X of the projecting surface 20. At the four 
corners of the projecting surface 20, portions are provided at the height 
Z above the edge portions 22 extending into the projecting surface. These 
portions are identified by reference numerals 26 and the distance Z is 
shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. Furthermore, at the approximate centers of the 
left and rightmost edges of projecting surface 20, additional recessed 
areas 28 are disposed which are also located at a height Z above the 
surface of the edges 22 of the back panel 14. These recessed portions 26 
and 28 provide a convenient means for stacking a plurality of the card 
holders and protectors one on top of the other as shown in FIG. 6. In 
order to accommodate intermediate surface 25 of back panel 14, front panel 
12 also includes an intermediate surface 27 surrounding the periphery of 
recess 20. 
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the front panel 12 of the card 
holder and protector includes a pair of projections 30 facing toward the 
center of the card and located along the upstanding side wall of the 
projecting surface 16. Along the opposite edge, the upstanding side wall 
of projecting surface 20 of back panel 14 preferably includes a pair of 
recesses 32 into which the projections 30 are received when the front and 
rear panels are closed upon each other, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The 
recesses 32 could alternatively be provided on front panel 12 and the 
projections 30 on back panel 14. 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, a preferred method of using the present 
invention includes the steps of placing the card to be protected face down 
in the recessed portion 16 of the interior of the front panel 12 of the 
holder and protector, and then closing the rear panel 14 on top of the 
card held in the front panel, thereby snapping the projections and 
recesses 30 and 32 together to hold the card to be protected in position. 
This method of using the invention is preferable because the edges and 
corners of the card are securely protected in the recessed area 16 of the 
front panel 12 and cannot be damaged by the closing of the rear panel 
thereon. 
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with 
reference to a specific exemplary embodiment thereof. It will, however, be 
evident that various modifications and changes will be made thereunto 
without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as 
set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are 
accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive 
sense.