Abstract:
A system for creating and displaying an advertising message on an cord or string. In the preferred embodiment, the system includes a two piece construction made up of an internal gripping sleeve that attaches to the cord or string and a fixture that includes a bore for receiving the sleeve. The bore includes a foam internal surface that permits the fixture to forcibly slid over the internal sleeve but also has a tendency to attach itself to the sleeve when not moved by the user. The external surface of the fixture includes a displayed message.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates generally to creating and displaying an advertising message on a electronic headphone cord, clothing string, or lanyard, referred generally as a cord. 
         [0002]    There are many known ornamental attachments designed for various objects such as vehicle antennas, head phone buds, and shoes. Traditional antenna attachments are formed by boring a hole through the center of the attachment. Such prior art attachments are secured to by threading the antenna through the hole. There are known problems with this method of attachment in that when vehicle antenna generally have a tip with a larger diameter than the rod of the antenna, so the mounting hole is undesirably enlarged when sliding the attachment onto the antenna, making it difficult or impossible for the attachment to remain securely positioned on a particular place on the antenna. The &#39;820 patent teaches an improvement wherein the channel contains recesses to accommodate the larger antenna tip. While the &#39;820 is a significant improvement over the prior art, it suffers from at least three shortcomings. First, it relies on the center bore channel of the prior art for attachment which allows the attachment to be undesirably rotated when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds. Second, antenna tips are not standardized so unique attachment must be prepared for each different size an style of antenna tip. Third, the &#39;820 is limited to attachments contemplated, prepared, and distributed by the manufacturer. Similar issues would arise with attaching a similar system to an electronic headphone cord. The base plug of the electronic headphone cord is abnormally large compared to the cord itself. This would indicate that a fixture with a mounting hole or bore would have to be enlarged to accommodate the base plug but would then be two large to be able to securely fashion at any particular spot on the cord without continuing to slid. 
         [0003]    What is needed is an improved system that permits advertisement fixture to be secured to electronic headphone cords, cord strings, or lanyard cords, generally referred to as cords, that overcomes limitations and problems to provide the consumer with a flexible, easy, and reliable system to place advertising messages for display on an electronic headphone cord or clothing string. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention solves these problems by departing from the prior art method of providing a unitary attachment having a center bored hole. The present system according to one embodiment for creating and displaying an advertising message on an cord, such as a headphone cord, clothing string, or lanyard cord, which includes a two piece construction made up of an internal gripping sleeve that attaches to the cord or string and a fixture that includes a bore for receiving the sleeve. The bore includes a foam internal surface that permits the fixture to forcibly slid over the internal sleeve but also has a tendency to attach itself to the sleeve when not moved by the user. The external surface of the fixture includes a displayed message. The displayed message is defined generally to include both textual messages, symbols, color patterns, and graphic images. The type of messages contemplated include, but is not limited to, personal, commercial, seasonal, political, and religious messages. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the present invention showing a two piece construction of the system for displaying a message on a cord or string; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  illustrates the fixture sliding onto the sleeve; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3A  illustrates the sleeve being secured to the cord; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3B  illustrates the fixture sliding over the cord end; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3C  illustrates the fixture and sleeve on the cord; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3D  illustrates the fixture and sleeve on the cord; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3E  illustrates the fixture and sleeve on the cord; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4A  illustrates the fixture and sleeve on a clothing cord; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4B  illustrates the fixture and sleeve on each separate cord on the clothing; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5A  illustrates another embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5B  illustrates the internal conical member used to capture the cord; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5C  illustrates a user grasping an edge of the conical member before twisting; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6A-6C  illustrates the twisting which occurs internally to the internal bi-conical member when capturing the cord; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 7A-7C  illustrates from an external viewpoint the twisting to the fixture. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    The present invention generally allows a consumer to select and display an advertising message on electronic headphone cords, on clothing sting cords, and on lanyard cords, generally referred to herein as a cord. An advertising message is defined generally to include both textual messages, symbols, color patterns, and graphic images. The type of messages contemplated include, but is not limited to, personal, commercial, seasonal, political, and religious messages. 
         [0020]      FIGS. 1-4B  shows the preferred embodiment of the invention as typically deployed on an electronic headphone cord. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the cord  10  holds the system invention  100  at a position defined by the user. This position can be adjusted by sliding the system invention  100  along the cord. 
         [0021]    The system invention  100  is typically defined as a two piece construction, which a single piece construction may be defined two pieces tends to provide the best flexibility. The two piece construction includes an internal sleeve  105  and an external fixture  150 . The internal sleeve  105  made be a latex rubber or silicon sleeve. The sleeve  105  includes a groove or slit  110  along its length that permits the sleeve  105  to open for receiving the cord  10 . Once released the slit will close and grip onto the cord  10 . While the sleeve  105  can still be manually slid upwardly or downwardly along the cord, the material being sufficiently resilient will substantially prevent the sleeve  105  from moving on its own. 
         [0022]    The external fixture  150  while shown as a cube, may be any particular geometric shape and/or size. The fixture  150  can include at least one face which is preprinted on to include a particular advertisement, such as those discussed. The advertisement may be on one or more faces of the fixture, if the fixture includes a face. The fixture is typically made out of an expanded rubber foam such as ethylene vinyl acetate form rubber. The foam structure  152  is cut, sized, or shaped to have a profile that may include at least one face. The face will typically be coated or painted  154  that permits the printing of the advertisement  156 . The fixture  150  further includes a bore  158  there-through such that the bore extends along a single axis to create an opening on one end  160  and an exit on the opposing end  162 . 
         [0023]    With the sleeve secured to the cord as previously described, the fixture  150  may now be positioned. The bore  158  is sized such that the internal surface  160  of the bore frictionally engages the external surface  110  of the sleeve  105 . The bore  158  is also sized such that a plug or knot at the beginning of the cord can slide there-through. Since the fixture  150  is also made from an expanded rubber, if the bore  158  is slightly smaller then the plug, the plug can still be slide through the bore by forcibly expanded the bore when the plug is pushed through. The fixture can then be slide along the cord and positioned such that the sleeve is placed internally within the fixture. 
         [0024]    It may be further contemplated that the sleeve is longer then the fixture, such that ends of the sleeve extend out of the fixture. This can be done for various reasons including further advertisement or marketing purposes. 
         [0025]    The advertising messages formed using the present invention may be textual messages. The messages may also be artistic rather than textual where the symbolic attachments represent non-textual items such as hearts and flowers. The messages may be seasonal such as “Veterans Day” or religious, such as “God Loves”. 
         [0026]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 4A and 4B  the system  100  can either singularly placed on two cords  10  on a piece of clothing or have two placed separately each one on one cord. Furthermore, the fixture could also be placed on a lanyard or other type of chain or cord. 
         [0027]    Referring now to  FIGS. 5A and 5B  there is shown a second type of apparatus invention  200  typically defined as a two piece construction, defined as an internal sleeve  205  and an external fixture  210 . The external fixture may be constructed as a two piece housing  215  and  220  that combined to form the external fixture  210  but is secured two each other during assembly by epoxy, glue, adhesive and may even be secured through mechanical devices, screws, etc. 
         [0028]    The external fixture  210  is typically hollow and includes openings  225  on opposing ends. The openings  225  are sized to receive the outwardly flared ends  230  of the internal sleeve  205 , such that the flared ends  230  of the internal sleeve  205  are positioned externally to the openings  225 . The openings  225  may either be of the size dimensions or may be slightly different to accommodate variations of the internal sleeve. 
         [0029]    The internal sleeve  205  is bi-conically shaped with the two outwardly flared ends  230  defined on end portions  250  and  252 . The two end portions  250  and  252  inwardly taper towards a narrowed intermediate section  254 . The degree of tapering for either end portion  250  or  252  may be the same or different. In addition, the internal sleeve  205  includes slots  256  traversing the length of the sleeve. The slot ends  257  terminate along the length of the sleeve such that the slot end  257  is closed and not opened. The number of slots  256  on any given embodiment may differ, however, in one embodiment the slots  256  traverse the length of the sleeve and are evenly spaced. 
         [0030]    Referring now to  FIGS. 6A-7C , the elements of the internal sleeve allow a user to grip one of the flared ends and twist either the internal sleeve or the fixture causing the internal sleeve to twist about its narrowed intermediate section and grip or secure a cord in place. The slots  256  further allow the internal sleeve to flex and twist about the narrowed intermediate section while maintaining the opposing flared end to stay in position without any securing means or mechanisms. Therefore, the use can easily twist and untwist one of the flared ends and then flip and twist/untwist the other end easily and effectively. To use the invention, the user would insert the cord through the internal sleeve—simple pushing the cord through will suffice. Once through and positioned, the user simply grips one of the flared ends and twists, causing the internal sleeve to grab and hold the cord. The internal sleeve will maintain its grasp until a user untwists the internal sleeve. 
         [0031]    The description of the invention above includes several embodiments of the invention, but as one skilled in the art will appreciate, there are other uses and applications not explicitly illustrated in the description above that nevertheless are consistent with the spirit of the disclosed invention. The description above is provided by way of illustration and not limitation, and the invention, accordingly, should only be limited by the claims as set forth below.