Patent Publication Number: US-2006011494-A1

Title: Coin holder particularly for euros

Description:
The subject of the present invention is a coin holder intended in particular for the containment and the distribution of Euros.  
      With the coming into effect of the single European currency, the management of the new currency coins has become a widespread problem, since the coins of different value distributed on the market are at least eight, from one cent of Euro to two Euros.  
      The purses of the conventional type, wherein the coins are put in confusion, even if they can contain many coins, have the critical drawback of not to allow the easy selection of the wanted value coin.  
      To overcome such an inconvenience, several alternative solutions have been suggested, all based upon the previous division of the coins having different values. There have been used, for instance, semi-rigid coin holders formed of a plate of a certain thickness wherein prints or seats of different diameter are obtained, within which a certain number of coins is inserted by pressure one upon another, by elastically enlarging an holding little rim that surrounds the inlet thereto. The collection of the wanted value coin takes place by exercising a certain pressure, by means of the fingers, on the basis of the stack of the involved coins, so to make the first available coin going out from the same side from which it entered. To this purpose, at the basis of each holding seat of the coins a circular window is made, having a diameter sufficient to ensure the contact between a fingertip and the overlaying coin.  
      However, solutions of such a kind, with or without a protection cover, are not satisfactory since, in order to collect the coin, the attendance of both hands as well as a certain manipulation ability are needed, due to the fact that a pressure sufficient to make the wanted coin going out has to be exercised, bottom-up, with the fingers.  
      It is a task of the invention to overcome the inconveniences now cited, by providing a coin holder characterised in that it comprises at least a through cylindrical seat, having a diameter corresponding to that of one of the coins in due course, within which is located, at a short distance from the bottom, an O-ring or elastic ring that reduces the diameter thereto, so preventing the coins to fall down. It will be sufficient for the user to exercise by a single finger a slight pressure on the first coin of the stack to overcome the resistance provided by the elastic ring and to cause the fall of the coin that is located at the bottom of the stack. The operation could be facilitated by putting the coin holder upon any rigid plane before exercising the pressure on the different columns. It goes without saying that, having at disposal in a limited space the seats for the whole series of the coins in due course, it will be possible in a very short time to easily select all the wanted coins.  
      Alternatively, according to a different embodiment, when the material used in manufacturing the coin holder is a sufficiently elastic material, the O-ring can be replaced by a swelling or annular cord obtained by moulding inside the cylindrical surface of the holding seat of each coin. Said swelling can advantageously be present not only immediately upstream the outlet aperture of the seat itself, but at the inlet too, in order to avoid that, once it is inserted, the coin itself could go out if the coin holder is tilted or turned upside down.  
      Further features and advantages of the invention will become evident from the attached drawing plates that illustrate, by way of not limiting example, a preferred embodiment. 
    
    
      In te drawings:  
       FIG. 1  schematically shows, in section, the operating principle of the invention, with an O-ring housed inside the cylindrical seat wherein the coins are stacked;  
       FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  show how an O-ring can be built in within an its own housing, inside the cylindrical seat, in case the material employed does not allow to obtain by moulding a suitable annular seat;  
       FIG. 2  shows in section a first variant wherein the O-ring is replaced by an annular swelling;  
       FIG. 3  shows, always in section, a further variant according to which a lip or inclined tab is used, acting as stop means for the coins;  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a coin holder for Euros according to the invention, having a round shape;  
       FIG. 5  is another perspective view of another coin holder according to the invention, having a rectangular shape. 
    
    
      With reference to the figures, the coin holder subject of the invention is substantially formed of a body of any shape and having the wanted thickness, wherein at least a cylindrical tubular seat  8  is obtained, open at its ends, whose diameter is fit for receiving, except for the needed play, one of the Euro coins in due course. The coins are located within their seat by stacking them one upon another and obviously their number will vary in function of the coin holder thickness.  
      In accordance with a peculiar feature of the invention, at a short distance from the outlet aperture  10 , on the internal wall of said cylindrical seat  8  it is located, inside a corresponding annular seat  12  obtained from along the surface of said seat, an O-ring  14  that acts as a ledge for the overlaying coins and prevent them from falling down.  
      As it is visible in  FIG. 1 , the H letter denotes the distance of the O-ring  14  from the basis  10  of the cylindrical seat  8 . Said distance H is only slightly greater than the thickness of one of the coins stacked in the container. In this way the space underlying the O-ring in each stack, when the coin holder is put on a plane, can receive one coin only. With such a trick, at each pressure exercised by the user to the stack, the O-ring will let one coin only pass, such coin going to occupy the space underlying and being recoverable by lifting again the coin holder from the plane where it was put on.  
      The Euros-holder subject of the invention can be manufactured with any material fit to be moulded or injected, of elastic, semi-rigid or rigid kind. It is possible to utilise, for example, a rubber, TR, TPU, polyurethane and also rigid materials such as acetates, ABS, etc.  
      Depending on the kind of the material used, it is possible to apply different manufacturing techniques, some illustrative examples of which are given hereinafter.  
      As it is visible in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b , in case a material of rigid kind is employed, a seat or annular recess that originates from the lower rim  10  of the cylindrical seat can be obtained by reducing the thickness and the O-ring  14  is built in between the ledge of said recess and a proper fixing or holding ring or clip  21 .  
      As an alternative to the use of an O-ring, which implies the presence of a proper housing obtained on the internal surface of the container, it can be provided, when the material is sufficiently elastic, the realisation of an annular swelling or cord  16  suitably shaped, preferably rounded, obtained by moulding from the same material, as it is visible in  FIG. 2 . The following  FIG. 3  shows another alternative solution according to which the swelling functions are performed by a tab or lip  18  suitably shaped and slightly sloping downwards, able to change from a completely overhanging position towards the inside of the container to an indented position within an its own seat  20  obtained in the thickness of the container itself.  
      In all that cases wherein the coin holder is not equipped with an its own cover, in order to avoid the accidental release of the coins from the inlet aperture, this latter is provided with appropriate stop elastic means  22  such as a second O-ring, a little rim or a lip, which prevent the coin, once it is inserted, to come back.  
      From what has been said above, it is evident that the given teaching refers to a mechanism by which the coins can be inserted and collected from the relevant containers. Consequently the arrangement of the containers themselves inside the coin holders can vary as much as one likes, this allowing to obtain for these latters the more pleasant geometrical shapes. In  FIGS. 4 and 5  two preferred illustrative arrangements are shown, according to which eighth cylindrical seats for the relevant eighth values of the coins in due course are, respectively, radially arranged in a round coin holder having a total diameter of about 8 cm, and arranged in two rows in a rectangular coin holder.  
      In both cases, it is possible to equip the coin holder with a cover, preferably of the type able to be taken off, of the more appropriate material, from the synthetic transparent one that allows to let the seats for the different coins visible, up to a valuable material such as the true skin.