Abstract:
A multiple interchangeable carrier attachment system including a carrier and at least one attachment releasably attached to the carrier and adapted to be exchanged with attachments from other carriers which releasably attach to the carrier or attachment. Name or other identifying indicia is placed on each attachment which may be releasably connected to the carrier and the owner of the carrier can exchange attachments having his or her identifying indicia with owners of other carriers having their identifying indicia for trade, friendship and other purposes.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This application claims the priority of prior application Ser. No. 60/330,049 filed on Oct.17, 2001. The invention is generally directed to a multiple interchangeable carrier attachment system and, in particular, to a system in which a series of attachments denoting a name, nickname, date, product identification, name/number combination or other identifying material are interchangeably secured to the carrier for trading attachments with others.  
           [0002]    Generally, there is a need for a product to provide a bonding experience through trading and collecting. While particularly suitable for children and teenagers, the system is appropriate for people of any age. Currently, teenagers and children frequently buy items such as key chains, necklaces, pencils, signs and the like with their names on them. However, these items are generally retained by them for their personal use. There is a need for children to be able to collect identifying items with their friends&#39; and relations&#39; names in addition to their own, providing them with the opportunity to bond with their friends and acquaintances, to support causes, institutions and products, as well as to collect different attachments. In the past, each of these items have been generally created as single-purpose devices secured to a single carrier. Examples of these include key chains with a child&#39;s name, pens with beads spelling someone&#39;s name, a school name, a sports team&#39;s name, or lucky numbers or the like. However, there is a need for a carrier, such as a pen, necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring, clothing or accessory items like key chains, handbags, belts, hair clips, with attachments which are interchangeably removable from the carrier, so that the owner of one carrier can exchange attachments special to them with friends or acquaintances.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The invention is generally directed to a carrier with a number of attachments removably attachable to the carrier wherein the attachments can be exchanged with attachments from other carriers so that carrier owners can display attachments from another carrier owner&#39;s carrier.  
           [0004]    A variable number of attachments can hang from a single carrier at one time. The attachments are easily removable and additional attachments can be fastened to existing attachments through a ring or other device connected to the bottom or a portion of each attachment. The number of attachments attached to the carrier is variable and can be changed at any time the carrier owner chooses.  
           [0005]    Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved multiple interchangeable carrier attachment system.  
           [0006]    Another object of the invention is to provide an improved multiple interchangeable carrier attachment system in which a carrier has a number of similar attachments with identifying material on the attachment which are easily removable and which can be supplemented by adding additional attachments and may be exchanged with other attachments from other people&#39;s carriers.  
           [0007]    Yet another object of the invention is to provide an carrier with interchangeable and selectively removable attachments which can be traded and collected.  
           [0008]    Still other objects and advantages of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, be apparent from the specification.  
           [0009]    The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, arrangement of parts, combinations of steps and procedures, all of which will be exemplified in the constructions and processes hereinafter set forth and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of two carriers with attachments constructed in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a carrier with attachments constructed in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0013]    In a preferred embodiment of the invention the product is composed of two parts: a carrier; and a series of attachments to the carrier, which are removably attachable to the carrier. Generally, the product will be sold with a number of similar attachments. For example, a necklace or bracelet or ring may be sold with five or six attachments which are the owner&#39;s name in a beaded form. Generally, a young girl may purchase or have purchased for her a necklace that has five or six attachments with her name in beads hanging down from the necklace. She may then exchange an attachment with her name with a friend who provides her with an attachment with the friend&#39;s name to be placed upon her necklace. In this way, a girl may have a necklace which includes the names of a number of her friends and her friends will have necklaces which include her name. This is a way in which a bonding experience is provided to youngsters, as well as adults, and also may be used for trading and collecting.  
         [0014]    While it is relatively common for children, such as boys and girls, to collect items such as key chains, necklaces and the like, with their name on them, there is a need to create a bonding experience through trading and collecting with their friends and acquaintances. In a current preferred embodiment of the invention, the connection to the carrier consists of a lobster claw style clasp that opens and closes to easily remove the attachment from the carrier. Alternatively, spring loaded devices, jewelry closures, knots and other means of removably opening and closing the carrier or disengaging mechanisms for the attachments can be utilized.  
         [0015]    The carrier in preferred embodiments can either be jewelry, clothing or accessories. For example, jewelry types include pins, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings. Clothing includes jackets, pants, shirts, hats, scarves and the like. Accessories include key chains, handbags, belts, hair clips, hair claws, headbands, scrunches, barrettes, brief cases, backpacks, name plates and others. In a current preferred embodiment a kilt pin of the type shown in FIG. 2 is used. Pin  101  has five rings  103  on the fixed (non-opening) side of pin  201 . Pin  101  also has a pin section  102 , which fits removably into guard lock  104 , and has a spring  105  at the narrow end of pin  101  and a rounded section  106  at the wide end of pin  101 .  
         [0016]    Additional attachments with or without carriers can be purchased by users for more trading or collecting. The attachments themselves can function without the carrier by connecting end to end, using the bottom ring on one end and the clasp on the other, resulting in necklaces, bracelets, belts, etc., depending upon the number and size of the attachment pieces.  
         [0017]    In a current preferred embodiment of the invention, the attachments  200 , as shown in FIG. 2, are formed as name strips  200  shown in FIG. 2. Named strips  200  are formed of a series of beads which, preferably, include letter beads  205 , spacer beads  206 , colored beads  207 , anchor bead  208 , lobster claw connector  201  and base ring  202 , which are held together by a filament  210 . In a current preferred embodiment of the invention the filament  210  is a high tech elastic polymer jewelry cord, preferably approximately 0.7 millimeters thick, which has a degree of elasticity. In the current preferred embodiment the attachment is held together by a high tech elastic polymer jewelry cord 7 millimeters in thickness and clear, which is sized so as to have a unstretched length shorter than the length of the beads  205 ,  206 ,  207  and  208 , through which it travels. By having the cord  210  under tension, it stiffens the attachment so that it maintains a relative straight orientation rather than flopping about. As shown in FIG. 2 the monofilament is tied to a lobster claw connector  201  which fits through one of the five fixed rings  103  on the base of carrier  101 . In a current preferred embodiment the attachment is set up as a name chain or bracelet. In the example of FIG. 2 the name is Kim and there are three letter beads  205  in each chain, one with each of the three letters in the name. In a current preferred embodiment the name beads are four sided rectangular beads with a vertical hole through the beads. The letter beads  205  are separated by spacer beads  205 , one of which starts at the top and subsequent ones alternate with the letter beads  205  and colored beads  207 . At the bottom of the attachment is an anchor bead  208  which is slightly larger in size than the spacer to provide a visual setoff from the string of alternating spacing and letter or color beads and to provide an anchor for the metal split ring at the bottom which, in a current preferred embodiment, is a 5 millimeter ring. The split metal ring at the bottom is useful for either forming the attachment into a bracelet by attaching the ring into the metal fastener such as the lobster claw, which in a preferred embodiment is a 6-7 millimeter size, or attaching additional attachments below the attachment secured to the carrier. The spacer and colored beads are, in a current preferred embodiment, colored plastic beads of 6 millimeter size between the alphabet beads and 8 millimeters for the anchor beads. Other sizes and configurations can be utilized. The current sizing is selected in view of the way in which the spacer beads and surfaces nest within the openings in the top and bottom of each of the alphabet plastic beads to provide a cleaner, tighter fit and arrangement. With the elasticity of cord  210  the beads line up in a stiff, straight orientation which allows the name to be easily read.  
         [0018]    Reference is made to FIG. 1 wherein two carriers  301  with five attachments  302  are shown. The top carrier includes five similar attachments which would be the way one would buy the carrier. The bottom carrier shows the carrier with five different attachments (what would happen after the purchaser, Jessie, traded attachments with her name to her four friends, Rebecca, Emma, Christina and Jennifer receiving one of theirs in exchange). In the embodiment of FIG. 1 the carrier  301  is a pin in which the head of the pin can be removed. The fasteners are connected directly to the carrier without the need for fixed rings and are separated by spacer beads.  
         [0019]    In a preferred embodiment the product will be used in the following manner. The initial five attachments to the carrier are traded between friends, resulting in a carrier with potentially five different names. The attachments are easily removable for trading so that a set of attachments can be changed at any time. For example, Mallory buys a pin with five “Mallory” attachments. Her four friends, Danielle, Marie, Susan and Barbara all buy pins or necklaces with five of their own names attached. Mallory trades her name attachment with Susan and then does the same with her three other friends, resulting in a carrier with attachments of her name and the names of her four friends. Her four friends need not, however, trade with all the same people. In addition, Mallory may purchase additional “Mallory” attachments, so that she can trade with additional friends and collect more names.  
         [0020]    Alternatively, the attachments can be identified with sporting events such as the Super Bowl or Ryder Cup, or Olympics, a sporting team such a football, baseball, basketball or hockey team, or of a group such as a Cub Scout or Girl Scout troop.  
         [0021]    The carriers are generally formed in preferred embodiments with some method of attachment such as a ring, which is either not intended to be opened, in which case the attachments will have a connecting piece which allows disengagement and re-engagement of the attachment, or the carrier itself will have a mechanism for releasably engaging the attachments, in which case the attachments either may or may not have a releaseable fastener integrated into the attachment. An important element of the multiple interchangeable carrier attachment system is the ability to trade and exchange identifying attachments with others so that each shares identifying attachments associated with the other. This is useful for creating bonding among friends and between business associates. In a sense, in a business setting this can provide an analog to exchanging business cards, where people can exchange identifying attachments, such as beaded name forms or more detailed and ornamented attachments, which might include a user&#39;s full name and contact information. These attachments could be in various forms, such as dangling chains, loops, discs, cards or charms. The attachments can be made in many different mediums such as glass, precious and semi-precious and non-precious metals, gems and stones, paper or plastic, without limitation.  
         [0022]    Accordingly, an improved multiple, interchangeable carrier attachment system, which allows for trading and collecting of identifying indicia releasably engageable with the carrier is provided.  
         [0023]    It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent in the proceeding description, are efficiently obtained and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions and processes without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanied drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative, and not in the limiting sense.  
         [0024]    It will also be understood that the following Claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention, herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.