Abstract:
The invention provides a versatile magnetic holder which is capable of holding objects which are sensitive to magnetic fields, such as ferrous coins, capable of holding items comprising an enclosed loop, such as key chains, and capable of holding thin articles, such as paper currency, which can be held between two adjacent flat elements pressing against one another. The magnetic holder is also capable of securing larger objects against a ferrous portion of another object. The apparatus comprises three longitudinal flat members, each member comprising two magnets protruding from one face, linked through one another via a loop-shaped element extending through a hole positioned at an extremity of each longitudinal member. For maximum versatility, when all three longitudinal members are magnetically secured to one another, the top face of two of the longitudinal members faces in opposite direction to the front face of the third longitudinal member.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a continuation of PCT application No. PCT/CA01/01302 filed on 11 Sep. 2001 entitled VERSATILE MAGNETIC HOLDER, and claims priority from Canadian application No. 2319707 filed on 12 Sep. 2000. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to an apparatus for holding small items and for assisting in holding, in whole or in part, items against magnetic surfaces. The apparatus has specific application to holding personal objects of the type that a person might carry in a pocket such as magnetic coins, paper or plastic currency, keys, smart cards and the like. The apparatus has also specific application to removably holding a protective article, such as a tarpaulin drop sheet or the like, against a magnetic object, such as a vehicle. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Various types of devices exist for holding miscellaneous personal objects such as currency, keys, access cards, and the like which are typically carried by individuals. Some such devices include a magnet. Magnetic items such as magnetic coins are attracted to the magnet and can be held to the magnet. One example of a magnetic holder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,439 (Miller). A magnetic holder is not useful for holding non-magnetic items such as non-magnetic coins, paper currency or the like. 
     Another type of holding device comprises a member, typically a loop, onto which can be fastened apertured objects such as keys. A standard key ring is an example of such a device. Examples of such devices are disclosed in Canadian patent No. 2,188,119 (MacLeod), Canadian patent No. 1,333,272 (Tsamas) and Canadian patent No. 2,035,560 (Scungio). This type of device is not useful for holding items, such as money, which are not apertured. 
     A further type of holding device comprises a pair of adjacent elements which are biased together with sufficient force to enable objects, such as paper currency, identification cards and the like to be removably secured. A standard money clip is an example of such a device. Another example of a device in which objects can be gripped between adjacent surfaces is described in U.K. patent 2,138,281 (Huang), where coins and paper currency can be held between adjacent coils of a spiral. 
     There is a need for a versatile, convenient to carry, apparatus capable of removably securing personal objects. There is also a need for an apparatus capable of securing larger objects against a magnetic portion of another object. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention provides a versatile magnetic holder, comprising three longitudinal magnetic members each comprising a magnetizable material. Each magnetic member comprises an aperture through which a loop-shaped element can extend, positioned in an end portion of the magnetic member, and two ferromagnetic elements on the magnetic member. The ferromagnetic elements are preferably rare-earth magnets. 
     The magnetic holder may comprise an aligning member, such as a key ring or a flexible strap, extending through the apertures of the magnetic members. 
     The ferromagnetic elements are arranged so that the poles of ferromagnetic elements on adjacent magnetic members attract one another, so that the three magnetic members are magnetically secured to one another. 
     The three magnetic members are preferably arranged with respect to one another so that, when they are magnetically secured to one another, the front faces of two of the magnetic members face in one direction while the front face of a third magnetic member faces in an opposite direction. The front face of each of the magnetic members may comprise a spacer. Alternatively, the ferromagnetic elements may project from the front face of each of the magnetic members to serve as spacers. 
     Preferably, the ferromagnetic elements are curved along their longitudinal axis, with their back sides being convex. 
     This invention also provides a method for simultaneously holding small magnetic objects such as coins, loop shaped elements and thin articles. The method comprises providing a holder, as outlined above. The method further comprises inserting one or more thin articles between the back side of one magnetic member and the back side of another magnetic member. The method further comprises magnetically securing a magnetic object to any one of the ferromagnetic elements. The method further comprises inserting a loop shaped element in gaps formed by the holder. A gap is formed when two ferromagnetic elements (or other spaces) projecting from the front face of one magnetic member are magnetically secured to the back side of another magnetic member. A gap is also formed when two ferromagnetic elements projecting from the front face of one magnetic member are magnetically secured to two ferromagnetic elements projecting from the front face of another magnetic member. 
     Further features and advantages of the invention are described below. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In drawings which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the invention: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a magnetic holder according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the magnetic holder of FIG. 1; 
     FIGS. 3 and 4 show a schematic side view of alternate arrangements of individual parts of the holder according to the currently preferred embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of a preferred arrangement of poles of each magnet of the magnetic holder of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic view along line  6 — 6  of FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be determined as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. 
     This invention provides a versatile holder for holding items such as coins, paper currency, keys, smart cards, and the like. A preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a number of generally flat magnetic plates. The plates are attracted to one another by magnetic forces so that paper currency or other thin objects can be held between a pair of adjacent plates. Magnetic items such as ferromagnetic coins are held to the holder by magnetic attraction to the plates. Most preferably the plates are all mounted on a connecting member, such as a ring, which passes through apertures in end portions of the plates. Objects such as keys or smart cards may also be held to the connecting member. Thus a holder according to the invention can conveniently accommodate a wide range of small objects of types that an individual might carry in his or her pockets. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a holder  1  according to a currently preferred embodiment of the invention, comprises three generally flat elongated ferrous members  10 . Members  10  include a first flat member  10 A, a second flat member  10 B and a third flat member  10 C. In the preferred embodiment, each flat member  10  is made of 18 gage cold rolled steel. Members  10  are preferably stiff. Where the members are fabricated from 18 gauge steel, they are preferably slightly curved or slightly bent about a longitudinal axis, as shown for example in FIG. 6, to provide added stiffness. Magnetizable materials other than steel may also be used for members  10 . Each of members  10  preferably has suitable dimensions to fit into a user&#39;s pocket. To be pocket size, holder  1  should not be longer than about 100 mm and is preferably ½ this size. For example, in the preferred embodiment, each member  10  is approximately 15 mm wide, 50 mm long and 1 mm thick. Preferably, each end of each flat member is rounded so that members  10  have no sharp corners. 
     One end portion  16  of each member  10 , includes an aperture  15  through which an aligning member, such as a ring or flexible strap, can extend. In the preferred embodiment, the aligning member comprises a ring  40 . Ring  40  is preferably a ring such as a key ring onto which additional things such as keys, bar-coded identification tags, tags bearing advertisements, smart cards or the like can be added. Aligning member  40  keeps end portions  16  of members  10  generally aligned with one another and keeps members  10  together. 
     Each of members  10  has a front face  11  and a back side  21 . In the preferred embodiment, back side  21  is slightly convex as shown in FIG.  6 . Two ferromagnetic elements  12  are mounted to the front face  11 . On each member  10 , one magnetic element  12 - 1  is secured near a first, proximal, end  16  and a second magnetic element  12 - 2  is secured near a second, distal, end  17 , of magnetic member  10 . Magnetic elements  12 - 1  and  12 - 2  are preferably spaced apart from one another by the same amount on each of members  10 . In the preferred embodiment, each pair of ferromagnetic elements (i.e. ferromagnetic elements  12 - 1 A and  12 - 2 A, ferromagnetic elements  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B and ferromagnetic elements  12 - 1 C and  12 - 2 C) are spaced apart from one another by a distance of approximately 30 mm. Magnetic elements  12  project slightly from front face  11 . Ferromagnetic elements  12  may be held in place on face  11  mechanically or may be held in place using a suitable adhesive. In the preferred embodiment, ferromagnetic elements  12  each comprise a rare earth permanent magnet. Such magnets produce magnetic fields which are strong in relation to the size and weight of the magnet. Other strong magnets could also be used for ferromagnetic elements  12 . 
     Ferromagnetic elements  12  tend to cause holder  1  to adopt a configuration in which each ferromagnetic element  12  is aligned with a corresponding ferromagnetic element on an adjacent member  10 . This configuration is shown in FIG. 2. A user can slide members  10  apart into a fan configuration as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 shows a preferred arrangement of magnetic poles, where N indicates a north magnetic pole and S indicates a south magnetic pole, for each of magnetic elements  12 - 1  and  12 - 2  of magnetic holder  1 . This arrangement creates optimal attractive forces between flat members  10 A,  10 B and  10 C, because opposite poles are adjacent to one another (for example north magnetic pole N of magnet  12 - 2 B is adjacent to south magnetic pole S of magnet  12 - 2 A). In the preferred embodiment, the poles of all of the ferromagnetic elements  12  on a member  10  face in the same direction. However, any arrangement of the magnets which preserves this concept of adjacent distribution of opposite poles is possible within the broad scope of this invention. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 2, faces  11  of two adjacent ones of members  10  face one direction (in the illustrated embodiment members  10 A and  10 B have their faces,  11 A and  11 B, facing one direction). The third member  10 C has its face  11 C oriented in a direction opposite to that of faces  11 A and  11 B of the other two members  10 . With this construction, front faces  11  (i.e.  11 A and  11 B) of two flat members  10 A and  10 B face one way and the front face  11  (i.e.  11 CB) of the third flat member  10 C faces the opposite way. 
     More specifically, FIG. 2 shows a first flat member  10 A positioned on top of the other two flat members ( 10 B and  10 C) in holder  1 , with its front side  11 A and magnetic elements  12 - 1 A and  12 - 2 A facing upwards. Second flat member  10 B is positioned under first flat member  10 A with its front side  11 B and magnetic elements  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B also facing upwards i.e. front side  11 B faces back side  21 A of first flat member  10 A. As a result, both ferromagnetic elements  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B of second member  10 B are magnetically secured to back side  21 A of first flat member  10 A. Third flat member  10 C is positioned under second flat member  10 B, with its front face  11 C facing down. As a result, back sides  21 B and  21 C of members  10 B and  10 C are adjacent to one another and are magnetically attracted to one another by the magnetic forces of the ferromagnetic elements  12  on each of members  10 . 
     The convex rear sides  21  of members  10  facilitate separating adjacent members  10  by sliding distal end  17  of one member  10  transversely relative to distal end  17  of adjacent member  10 , so that first end  16  pivots about ring  40 . 
     Magnetic holder  1  may be used as follows. Ferromagnetic elements  12  on members  10 A and  10 C (i.e. ferromagnetic elements  12 - 1 A,  12 - 2 A,  12 - 1 C and  12 - 2 C) face outward and will therefore constitute the point of contact with any ferrous material which is brought into close vicinity of holder  1 . For example, any ferrous coins in proximity of magnetic holder  1  are magnetically attracted to and attach to the outwardly facing magnetic elements  12 - 1 A,  12 - 2 A,  12 - 1 C and  12 - 2 C, on members  10 A and  10 C. A user could for example, place holder  1  into a pocket containing various magnetic coins and the coins would become attached magnetically to holder  1 . 
     Since holder  1  is magnetic it can be attached to any object of magnetic material. For example, holder  1  can be magnetically secured to a large ferrous object, such as a refrigerator door or tool box by placing one of the sets of outwardly facing magnetic elements (for example  12 - 1 A and  12 - 2 A) against the object. The remaining pair of outwardly facing magnetic elements (for example  12 - 1 C and  12 - 2 C) can magnetically hold directly small magnetic objects. Therefore, one aspect of magnetic holder  1  is that it comprises magnetic elements which cause it to attract, or be attracted to, magnetic objects. A user could, for example, keep keys on ring  40  and store the keys conveniently by placing holder  1  on a refrigerator door. 
     Various contact areas  30  lie between adjacent members  10 . One contact area  30 - 1  is formed by a pair of magnetic elements  12 - 1  and  12 - 2  coming in contact with the back side  21  of a member  10  (for example, as shown in FIG. 2, contact area  30 - 1 AB formed by magnetic elements  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B coming in contact with back side  21 A of member  10 A). Another contact area  30 - 2  is formed by a pair of magnetic elements  12 - 1  and  12 - 2  coming in contact with another pair of magnetic elements  12 - 1  and  12 - 2  (for example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, contact area  30 - 2 AC formed by magnetic elements  12 - 1 C and  12 - 2 C of member  10 C coming in contact magnetic elements  12 - 1 A and  12 - 2 A of member  10 A). Another contact area  30 - 3  is formed by the back side  21  of a member  10  coming in contact with the back side  21  of another member  10  (for example, as shown in FIG. 4, contact area  30 - 3 BC formed by back side  21 B of member  10 B coming in contact with back side  21 C of member  10 C). 
     In the preferred embodiment of the invention there are two contact areas  30  which lie between adjacent members  10 . Between members  10 B and  10 C is a first area  30 - 3 BC. Since members  10 B and  10 C are magnetically attracted to one another, an object placed in or passing through area  30 - 3 BC will tend to be pinched between members  10 B and  10 C. For example, paper currency or identification cards can be inserted between back sides  21 B and  21 C of members  10 B and  10 C and retained by the forces attracting member  10 B to member  10 C. Because of the presence of magnetic fields, cards adversely affected by such fields should not be used with magnetic holder  1  (magnetically encoded credit cards would therefore not be good candidates to be secured within magnetic holder  1 ). However, any other thin object may be held by magnetic holder  1 , between flat members  10 B and  10 C. 
     A second contact area  30 - 1 AB capable of holding thin objects is located between first member  10 A and second member  10 B. Note that contact area  30 - 1 AB distally located from apertures  15  is more easily accessible. 
     Because magnetic elements  12  project slightly from the front faces  11  of the members  10 , where two members  10  are adjacent to one another with the front face  11  of one member  10  against the back side  21  of another member  10 , an elongated closed gap  31  exists between the members  10 . Objects can be held to holder  1  by separating the adjacent members  10  placing the objects through the gap  31  and allowing members  10  to become magnetically secured to one another with the object passing through gap  31 . Objects comprising rings, loops, closed straps or the like can be affixed to holder  1  in this manner. Conversely, holder  1  can be secured to an object which includes a loop element such as a belt loop on a user&#39;s pants. 
     Gap  31  could also be formed between spacers which project from a member  10  and be provided in addition to ferromagnetic elements  12 . 
     In the preferred embodiment, there is at least one gap  31 AB between member  10 A and member  10 B. 
     As noted above, objects can also be fixed in any conventional manner to aligning member, such as ring  40 . Ring  40  or an alternative aligning member could also be used to secure holder  1  to a loop such as a belt loop on a user&#39;s pants, another key ring, or the like. 
     Preferably, the aligning member allows members  10  to be repositioned with respect to one another. More specifically, ring  40  or an alternative aligning member preferably allows a user to selectively position second flat member  10 B either in between members  10 A and  10 C (i.e. as shown in FIG. 2) or at either ends of the trio of members  10 A,  10 B and  10 C (i.e. on the bottom as shown in FIG. 3 or on top as shown in FIG.  4 ). 
     In the configuration of FIG. 3, there are no outwardly facing magnetic elements  12 . Thus, in this configuration holder  1  generates less in the way of stray magnetic fields, but forms two closed gaps  31 AB and  31 AC instead of just one (as in the configuration shown in FIGS.  1  and  2 ). Consequently, in this configuration, holder  1  is less able to attract and hold small magnetic objects and less able to hold itself to a larger magnetic object. 
     In the configuration of FIG. 4, there are only two outwardly facing magnetic elements  12  (as opposed to four in the configuration shown in FIGS.  1  and  2 ). However, holder  1  provides a larger closed gap  31 AC (as opposed to the smaller closed gap  31 -AB provided in the preferred embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2) for holding loop-type objects. Consequently, in this configuration, holder  1  is less able to attract and hold small magnetic objects and less flexible in holding itself to a larger magnetic object. 
     Conversely, the magnets which create closed gap  31 AC (i.e. magnets  12 - 1 A and  12 - 1 C on one end and magnets  12 - 2 A and  12 - 2 C on the other) can strongly grip most material passing through area  30 - 2 AC, while the remaining two magnets (i.e. magnets  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B) can attach the holder, and by extension said material, to any ferrous object. Such configuration could therefore be used to hold an edge of a covering sheet, such as a car cover sheet, against a ferrous portion of an object to be covered, such as a vehicle&#39;s bumper. More specifically, the car cover sheet would be held via area  30 - 2 AC, with holder  1  being held on the vehicle&#39;s bumper via magnets  12 - 1 B and  12 - 2 B. In this respect, holder  1  can be used to secure edges of a tarpaulin against a car/truck&#39;s metal parts, edges of a cover sheet against a boat&#39;s metal parts etc. 
     Pursuant to this invention, it is possible for a holder to include only 2 (instead of three) members  10 . However, this is not preferred as a holder including only 2 members  10  would not be able to provide, at the same time, closed gaps, adjacent pinching faces and outwardly facing magnets. Consequently, a holder including only 2 members  10  would not be as flexible in terms of options offered to a user. 
     Also, members  10  may be made of non magnetizable material, which is not preferred as this would reduce the magnetic force keeping all members  10  magnetically secured to one another. However, such a disadvantage could be remedied by using stronger ferromagnetic elements  12 . 
     As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example: 
     embodiments of the invention may provide four or more members  10 ; 
     it is possible to have members  10  further slightly curved or slightly bent about a longitudinal axis and along the length of members  10  (as opposed to along the width of members  10 , as shown in FIG.  6 ), with the ferromagnetic elements still sitting in members  10 &#39;s concave portion; 
     magnetic elements  12  may be embedded in members  10  instead of being surface-mounted, as described above; and 
     in cases where a user is more interested in holder  1 &#39;s ability to secure larger objects against a ferrous portion of another object and less in its ability to removably secure personal objects, the size of each flat member  10 , and consequently of each ferromagnetic element  12 , could be increased so as to no longer comfortably fit inside a typical clothing pocket but provide increased magnetic strength in securing larger objects against a ferrous portion of another object. 
     Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.