Abstract:
Paint brush clip ( 10 ) is for attaching a paint brush ( 90 ) to a bucket ( 80 ) without obstructing access to paint ( 95 ). Clip ( 10 ) includes body ( 30 ) with flat central portion ( 31 ), including magnet ( 45 ) and ferromagnetic housing ( 46 ). First prong ( 33 ) and second prong ( 34 ) are attached to body ( 30 ). Clip ( 10 ) mounts on upper rim ( 83 ) of a bucket ( 80 ) with body ( 30 ) in interior space of bucket ( 80 ), retained by compression of prongs ( 33,34 ) on outer surface of bucket. Ferrule ( 91 ) of brush ( 90 ) is removably attached to ferromagnetic housing  46  and prevented from slipping by ridges ( 41 ). Handle ( 50 ) aids in removing clip ( 10 ) from bucket ( 80 ).

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates in general to holders for tools, and more specifically to a holder for a paint brush that may be mounted upon a paint bucket. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   A house painter generally uses both a roller and a brush on a job, using one or the other as the section being painted requires. The paint is typically contained in a five-gallon pail or a bucket designed especially for holding paint on the job. Both brush and roller can be charged with paint directly from the bucket. 
   A long-standing problem with alternating between roller and brush is putting the wet brush down while using the roller. If the brush is set down vertically in the paint bucket, leaning against the inner wall of the bucket, the bristles are damaged. The brush may become paint-soaked up to the ferrule or on the handle, making cleaning the brush after use harder and making it more likely the painter will smear paint onto a non-painted surface. The brush may slip or be knocked down into the paint. If the brush is placed horizontally onto a surface, such as a piece of waste paper, the paint runs toward the ferrule and handle, causing the problems noted above. Also, a brush set down flat is more likely to dry out or pick up blown dirt. 
   Professional painters must be very efficient in order to have competitive prices. They need to maintain their brushes in good condition, not waste motion by moving the brush to get the roller in the bucket, and keep the brush clean so as not to require extra time and solvent for clean-up. Working from a ladder is more efficient if a paint bucket, brush, and roller can be attached together so that all the equipment may be moved or suspended from the ladder as a unit. 
   Holders for paint brushes have been devised, but they have limitations. Several patented brush holders are designed so as to suspend the brush in the air over the paint bucket. Such holders leave the brush vulnerable to contamination by wind-blown dirt and drying by the sun or wind. When the brush is suspended over the bucket, it interferes with use of the bucket for charging a roller, and the brush may be knocked onto the ground or into the paint accidentally. 
   Some holders, such as those of Kirshenbaum (U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,169) and Vaughn (U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,285) are designed for use with a one-gallon or smaller paint can. The Kirshenbaum device is a ring attachment that mounts on the rim of the can and includes a paint brush holder. Access to the paint is very restricted when a brush is held by the attachment. The Vaughn device is a small clip that is adjustable to hold the brush with the bristles under the paint. 
   In spite of the several brush holders that have been disclosed, there is still a need for a brush holder that holds a brush inside a paint bucket, out of the sun and wind, but above the level of the paint. There is further a need for a holder that is easily mounted on any style or size of bucket that does not impede access for charging a paint roller. There is a need for a holder that is easy to use but holds a brush very securely and without allowing the brush to be smeared with paint. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention is a holder for a paint brush that mounts onto the rim of any size or shape of paint bucket. The holder includes a shield-shaped body with two recurved, resilient prongs for clipping over the rim of the bucket. The body rests against the inner wall of the bucket. Unlike brush holders that hang from the bucket rim or are attached with a single clip, the holder of the present invention compresses the wall of the bucket at three points and is very stable and secure. 
   The three point contact also allows for use of the holder on all buckets. The prongs include contact faces for contacting the outer wall of the bucket. The contact faces are inclined slightly from being parallel to the portion of the body that contacts the inner wall, thus provide more stable contact with a curved bucket wall. 
   Paint brushes generally include a handle, bristles, and a ferrule that attaches the bristles to the handle. The ferrule is typically of steel or similar ferromagnetic metal and typically includes two or more horizontal ridges. 
   The brush holder includes magnet means for holding the ferrule of the paintbrush. The magnet means includes a magnet and protruding ridges, for example, a ceramic magnet attached within a three-sided housing of ferromagnetic metal, wherein the edges of the housing project beyond the face of the ceramic magnet. Should the ferrule or magnet means become accidentally coated with liquid paint and slippery, the ridges of the ferrule and of the magnet means cooperate to prevent the brush from slipping more than a few millimeters. 
   The paint brush is attached and removed from the magnet means very easily and without taking as much care as is necessary for inserting the handle in a clamp or bracket, as in the case of some earlier brush holders. 
   The brush holder also includes a handle for pushing the holder onto the rile of the bucket or for removing it. When the holder is mounted on a bucket, the handle projects radially outward to the exterior of the bucket and is readily available for grasping and does not obstruct access to the paint. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an environmental perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the clip of the present invention mounted on a bucket and holding a paint brush. 
       FIG. 2  is a left front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the clip of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a right rear perspective view of the clip of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  is a front elevation view of the clip of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 5  is a right side elevation view of the clip of  FIG. 1  the left side view is a mirror image of  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 6  is top view of the clip of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 7  is a bottom view of the clip of  FIG. 1  shown mounted upon the wall of a paint bucket, the wall being cut away and depicted in phantom. 
       FIG. 8  is a section view of the clip of  FIG. 1  taken along line  8 — 8  of  FIG. 4  and with a paint brush shown attached. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1  is an environmental perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the clip  10  of the present invention mounted on a bucket  80  and holding a paint brush  90 .  FIG. 2  is a left front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of clip  10 .  FIG. 3  is a right rear perspective view of clip  10 . 
     FIG. 4  is a front elevation view of clip  10 .  FIG. 5  is a right side elevation view of clip  10 ; the left side view is a mirror image of  FIG. 5 . 
   As best seen in  FIGS. 4 ,  5 , and  6 , clip  10  includes a body  30 , a first prong  33 , a second prong  34 , and a handle  50 . Body  30  includes an upper spine portion  32 , and a flat central portion  31 . Both prongs  33 , 34  have an attached end  35  attached to body  30 , a free end  36  opposite attached end  35 , and a contact portion  37  for contacting bucket  80 . Prongs  33 , 34  are recurved to provide good tension yet allow easy mounting of clip  10  onto bucket  80 . Handle  50  has an attached end  51  attached to upper spine portion  32  of body  30  and a free end  52  opposite attached end  51 . 
   As seen in  FIG. 1 , bucket  80  includes an interior space  82  for containing paint  95 , enclosed by a wall  81 , which includes an exterior surface  84  and an upper rim  83 . 
   Paint brush  90  includes a handle  92  and a ferrule  91  for retaining the bristles  94 . Ferrule  91  is of ferromagnetic material, typically steel, and includes one or more horizontal ridges  93 . 
     FIG. 6  is a top view of clip  10 .  FIG. 7  is a bottom view of clip  10  shown mounted upon the wall  81  of a paint bucket  80 , wall  81  being cut away and depicted in phantom.  FIG. 8  is a section view of clip  10  taken along line  8 — 8  of  FIG. 4  and with paint brush  90  shown attached. 
   Clip  10  is mounted on paint bucket  81  by positioning clip  10  over upper rim  83  and pushing down on handle  50  such that the respective contact portions  37  of both prongs  33 , 34  contact exterior surface  84  of wall  81  and body  30  is within interior space  82  of bucket  80 . Once mounted clip  10  compresses wall  81  at three points both contact portions  37  press inwardly against exterior surface  84  and back side  39  of body  30  presses outwardly. Both prongs  33 , 34  are sufficiently resilient to accommodate a wide range of thickness and degree of curvature of wall  81 . Clip  10  is unmounted from bucket  80  by pulling upwardly on handle  50 . 
   Clip  10  may be of any suitable material. For example, injection-molded polypropylene has been found to have a desirable combination of stiffness and resiliency. It is desirable that central portion  31  of body  30  be stiff and resistant to impacts, yet prongs  33 , 34  must be resilient to mount easily onto upper rim  83  and provide strong compression of wall  81  over a long lifetime of use. Depending largely upon the web thickness and cross-sectional shape of a given portion of clip  10 , and also somewhat upon details of the molding process, the different portions of clip  10  may be designed to have different mechanical properties, as is well known in the art. 
   Central portion  31  of body  30  includes magnet means  40  for attaching ferrule  91  of brush  90  to clip  10 , and thus to bucket  80 . 
   Magnet means  40 , best seen in  FIGS. 4 and 8 , includes a magnet housing  46  and a ceramic magnet  45 . Magnet housing  46  has the shape of a three-sided box, attached to central portion  31 , such as in a shallow molded-in depression of central portion  31 . Magnet housing  46  is attached by suitable means, such as by screw  47  or by adhesive. Magnet housing  46  is made of a ferromagnetic material, such as steel or nickel. Ceramic magnet  45  is attached to magnet housing  46 . 
   Magnet housing  46  includes ridges  41  that protrude beyond the surface of ceramic magnet  45  and other parts of central portion  31 . When brush  90  is attached to clip  10 , ferrule  91  contacts only ridges  41 . Because magnet housing  46  is composed of ferromagnetic material, the contact with ceramic magnet  45  induces magnetic force in magnet housing  46 , which attracts ferrule  91 . In addition to the magnetic interaction of ridges  41  and ferrule  91  mechanical interaction between ridges  41  and horizontal ridges  93  of brush  90  prevents brush from slipping vertically downward relative to magnet means  40 . 
   Preferably, ridges  41  protrude beyond all other parts of central body  31  farther than ridges  93  protrude from all other parts of ferrule  91 , such that only ridges  41  can contact ferrule  91  when brush  90  is attached to clip  10 . 
   Each contact portion  37  of prongs  33 , 34  includes a generally planar contact face  38 . As best seen in the bottom view of  FIG. 7 , contact faces  38  are inclined at mirror-image angles from being parallel to the plane of body  30 . This inclination allows each contact face  38  to contact more fully exterior surface  84  of a curved bucket  80 , within a wide range of curvature. 
   Although clip  10  is depicted in the drawings herein as including a generally flat, shield-shaped body  30 , the invention may also be described in more basic terms as comprising a horizontal spine  20  (seen in  FIG. 6 ), having a first end  21 , second end  22 , and middle portion  23  therebetween. First prong  25  is attached to first end  21  and second prong  26  is attached to second end  22 . A center prong  27  is attached to middle portion  23  and includes magnet means  40 . Using these terms, when clip  10  is mounted onto upper rim  83 , center prong  27  is inserted into interior space  82  of bucket  80  and prongs  25 , 26  contact exterior  84  of wall  81 . 
   Although particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, various changes may be made in the form, composition, construction; and arrangement of the parts-herein without sacrificing any of its advantages. Therefore, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims such modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.