Abstract:
A miniature model car business card dispenser has a business card dispenser mechanism enclosed inside of a miniature model car&#39;s body. A machine operated lid similar to one on a real car can be opened and reveal an opening on the model car such as trunk opening or engine bay. The lid, when opened, allows passage of business card deck that was stored inside. Card deck can be pushed out or pulled in through model car&#39;s opening. When lid is closed, no dispenser mechanism can be seen from outside and the whole thing looks just like a regular model car. A underneath car trigger switch is provided for signaling dispenser operation. A set of electrical-mechanism includes a motor drive, slide on track and gear set are used to raise or lower the card deck as well as the lid.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/624,152 filed on Nov. 26, 2004 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates, in general, to a business card dispenser enclosed inside of a miniature model car.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Business card is essential tool in business world. It serves a purpose to remind people about its originator&#39;s basic information and it delivers personal impression. Card owner wants their card to be impressive, sometime even the method to deliver them. One way to deliver business card is to use business card dispenser.  
         [0004]     Some business card dispensers serve only functional purpose. They hold cards and dispense one when requested. The other business card dispensers simply just hold cards with decorated shape.  
         [0005]     People are known to have certain emotional attachment to vehicles. Personal car sometime is more than just basic transportation. It often reflects one&#39;s social status and marks one&#39;s success. It&#39;s often true that in business world, many businessmen or women own luxury or even exotic cars that hey don&#39;t afraid of letting people know. Sometime even brag about what kind of car they own or want to own. A nice built miniature model car not only considered a nice decoration item; sometime even an art piece for display. That&#39;s why a miniature model car is not uncommon to be seen as desktop decoration.  
         [0006]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,699 to Jing-Lin discloses a video tape rewinder enclosed inside a car shape body.  
         [0007]     U.S Pat. No. 6,565,412 to Thrasher; Matthew S. discloses a Hood and trunk lid lifting mechanism for model car.  
         [0008]     A business card dispenser enclosed in a model car fulfills the need of handing out business information and impress people even more. This invention has been made to delivery business cards for easy access and when not using its business card dispenser function, it&#39;s decorative just like a miniature model car as an additional value.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     This miniature model car business card dispenser has a build-in electric-mechanical system that extends and extracts a business card deck in and out through the model car&#39;s existing opening port such as engine hood or trunk lid. So that after the card deck has completely come down and stored inside the model car&#39;s body with lid closed behind, there is no extra seam to be seen. That is essential for preserving the look of a miniature model. This invention use one end of car for business card access port and use another end to function as trigger switch. In this document, our figures and example shows that we use car&#39;s rear end (trunk lid) as card access port and front end (engine hood) as switch end. This is just for illustration purpose, not a limit for our claim.  
         [0010]     Like a real car, model car in this invention stands above ground level via 4 wheels. Wheels axels are connected to car body by spring loaded suspension links. Car body can move up and down a little bit against wheel stands. One push at car&#39;s switch end compresses the suspension spring and lowers the car&#39;s switch end. As the suspension reach to the bottom, an electrical switch is then triggered to generate a signal to move card deck and trunk lid to either exhibition or camouflage mode. A circuit and a set of sensors keep the electrical motor moving and stopping when the card deck is at desired positions. There is no need to keep pressing the car down while the dispenser is working.  
         [0011]     At one touch of car&#39;s switch end (engine hood), the card access end (trunk lid) opens before a deck of business cards slides out and holds stop there for people to access them. Another touch on the switch end retrieves the deck of card back into car first then the card access lid (trunk lid) closes behind it, leaving no trace of business card or any seam on the model car. One of our goals is keep the authentic look of the model car, leave nothing extraterrestrial on the outside or any crack/seam that doesn&#39;t belong to the original car. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a model car, particularly showing the front and back suspensions and a trigger switch at open position.  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is the same perspective view of a model car as  FIG. 1 . Except the front suspension is pressed by user, trigger switch is at closed position.  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a model car, particular showing a deck of card inside and its trunk lid closed.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is the same perspective view of a model car as  FIG. 3 . Except its trunk lid is open, card deck remain inside.  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is the same perspective view of a model car as  FIGS. 3 and 4 . Except its trunk lid is open and its card deck is at display position for access.  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is a plan view of card deck and trunk lid operation assemble, in fully enclosed mode  
         [0018]      FIG. 7  is another plan view of card deck and trunk lid assemble as  FIG. 6 . Except the trunk lid is open.  
         [0019]      FIG. 8  is another plan view of card deck and trunk lid assemble as  FIGS. 6, 7 . Except the trunk lid is open and card deck is at display position.  
         [0020]      FIG. 9  is a circuit diagram that shows motor controlling circuit and all needed position sensors. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0021]     Prior to proceeding to the more detailed description of the present invention, it should be noted that, for the sake of clarity and understanding, identical components which have identical functions have been identified with identical reference numerals throughout the several views illustrated in the drawing figures.  
         [0022]     The car shape card dispenser as show in  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  comprises a cast car body  1 , two front wheels  2 , a set of front suspension  54 , two rear wheels  5 , a set of rear suspension  55 , and a trunk lid  8  rotates around pivot point  15 .  
         [0023]     Inside the model car body, there is a card deck and trunk lid operation assemble comprise a moveable trunk lid  8  and its supporting structure  53  that rotate around a pivot point  15 , a card deck holder  9  moves along track that from its store position to trunk opening, a deck of cards  10  which is stored inside the card deck holder  9  in this illustration, a slide  11  moves along a track that is parallel to the tack of card holder, a base  12 , a contact final driving head  13  and a motor drive  14 .  
         [0024]     Under the car&#39;s chassis, there is a trigger switch  4 . A battery  41  provides needed DC power to drive the reversible DC motor  14  thru a set of electrical control circuit  49  to perform all the dispenser actions. Detail of electrical circuit  49  is shown in  FIG. 9 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 1  shows the model car has  4  wheels, show as  2  and  5 , they ride on suspension springs,  54  and  55 , in a manner similar to a real car. The trigger switch means  4  to active all functions for business card dispenser hides under the car chassis and around the area of front wheels  2 . When model car stands by itself along, both suspension sprint set  54  and  55  are in free stand mode which lift the car body  1  and trigger switch  4  clear from contacting against ground so switch  4  remain opened.  
         [0026]      FIG. 2  shows what happen when user  7  provides a push on model car&#39;s front  3 , common know as engine hood, it compresses the front suspension springs  54  and the car&#39;s front  3  gets lowered. Trigger switch  4  get pushed down and make contact against ground and change state from open to close. Trigger switch  4  change its state back to open when user releases pressure on model car, back to state shown in  FIG. 1 . The state change of trigger switch  4  serves as a signal to the electrical circuit  49 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  shows battery  41  and circuit  49  is embedded inside model car body  1 . It also show dispenser in home state. The deck holder  9  and card deck  10 , which is stored inside card deck holder as illustration, remain fully hidden inside the model cars body  1  with model car&#39;s trunk lid  8  closed.  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  shows when card dispenser starts to work, it first opens the trunk lid  8 , which turning around a pivot point  15 , before extends the card holder  9 . Card deck  10  stored within the card holder  9  will pass through the trunk opening space left by opened trunk lid  8 .  
         [0029]      FIG. 5  shows card dispenser is at display position. Card deck holder  9 , with card deck  10  stored inside, moves toward the model car&#39;s trunk opening. The exposed part of card deck  10  reaches to outside from trunk opening while card deck holder  9  still remains inside. This shows the display mode of card dispenser. When retrieving operation starts, the card holder  9  gets back inside along the same track as moving out, before the trunk lid  8  start to close, such as shown in  FIG. 4 . Then the trunk lid  8  closed to fully complete retrieving operation, back to the state as  FIG. 3  shows.  
         [0030]      FIGS. 6, 7  and  8  show how the card dispenser mechanism assembly works for business card dispenser function. The card holder  9  and a moving slide  11  are moving parallel along their tracks on operation assemble base  12 . The driving motor  14  transfer its torque thru a set of belt and gears on the side of base  12  and drive the final driving head  13 . The head  13  then moves the slide  11  via friction force, forward or backward. When the dispenser is extending, the slide  11  first push open the trunk lid  8 . The slide  11  has a sloped edge  50  that make initial contact and then pushes against trunk lid&#39;s support structure  53  to force it to rotate around the pivot point  15  to open position. While doing so, the contact point  56  on slide  11  will also leave home sensor switch  19  and set status to not-home. After the trunk lid  8  is fully open, the tail-hook  51  on moving slide will hook up with card holder&#39;s catch-up hook  52  and take along the card holder  9  to move with it till card holder  9  is at its display position. Meanwhile the trunk lid&#39;s supporting structure  53  is still above the moving slide and gliding on it. Once the moving slide  11  reaches to its most extended position, the stop limit sensor switch  18 , part of control circuit, will be reached and activated by the card holder&#39;s catch-up hook  52 . This action will cut the power to motor  14  and stops the whole movement. The business card deck  9  will be exposed outside to the trunk opening for accessing.  
         [0031]     The retrieving operation takes another direction. One push by user on the model car&#39;s front end toggles the trigger switch  4  again. However, the circuit will control the motor  14  rotates toward the other direction and drives slide driving head  13  rotate toward the other direction to take slide  11  back into model car&#39;s body. The card holder  9  along with the card deck  10  either are dragged by a loaded spring, loaded by extending action, or just being pulled down by gravity, fall back to its final store position. After that, trunk lid&#39;s support structure  53  will glide to slide&#39;s sloped edge  50  and starts being pull by gravity to rotate downward to close. Reaching its final store position, the slide  11  will set the home sensor switch  19  to its home position  29 , which tells the circuit to cut power toward motor and become stopped state.  
         [0032]     Referring now to the embodiment of electrical circuit means of  FIG. 9 , a battery  41  is used to provide DC power to the entire circuit as well as electrical motor  14 . Trigger switch  4  connects DC power positive  42  to point  31  when the switch is activated. There are three resistors  26 ,  27  and  31  are used to protect circuit from short circuit. Two DC relays mean  20 ,  21  have six connection points each. Two for its electric-magnetic coil and the other four are two pair of contact points of relay switch. The switch will set one pair of contact points to close circuit and the other pair is set to open depends on if the coil is applied with electrical current. Relay  20  has switch connect point  34  and  36  closed;  33  and  35  open when there is no electrical current applied to its coil. Relay  21  has switch contact points  38  and  40  closed; contact points  37  and  39  opened when no electrical current is applied to its coil. When relay  20 &#39;s coil is powered, switch will connect point  33  and  35  closed while leave  34  and  36  opened. When relay  21 &#39;s coil is powered, switch will connect point  37  and  39  closed while leave  38  and  40  opened.  
         [0033]     The extend operation which means the moving slide  11  started from home position, as shown as  FIG. 3  or  6 , push trunk lid  8  open and move card deck holder  9  out and stop at top limit position, as shown as  FIGS. 5 and 8 . When the slide  11  is at home position means the slide  11  is fully back and does not push against card deck holder  9  or trunk lid supporting structure  53 , as show in  FIG. 6 . The slide home sensor switch means  19  is connected to home position  29 . When user presses model car&#39;s front end and toggles trigger switch  4 , DC power positive come from  42  cross over to point  31  and then will deliver to first DC relay  20 &#39;s coil and turn the switch to connect point  33  and  35 . Slide top limit switch means  18  will change to open only if the slide is hitting its top limit which pushed card holder  9  to its display position, as show in  FIG. 8 . The top limit switch  18  shall be closed if the slide is at its home position. DC power positive from point  33  cross over to point  35 , not only goes to point  22  to driver motor  14  to roll out, it also goes through resister  27  and keep DC relay  20 &#39;s coil powered when user release trigger switch  4 , which means point  31  is opened from DC power positive. Motor  14  gets ground from point  40  which is closed to point  38  since relay  21 &#39;s coil isn&#39;t powered. Once this DC current form a loop around relay  20 &#39;s coil, it will continue power the motor and relay  20 &#39;s coil itself even toggle switch  4  is opened or slide home sensor switch  19  has turn to away  30  position, which is definitely happening if motor  14  is driving the slide  11  to move out. This keeps motor  14  and slide  11  moving till the slide  11  hits it top limit switch  18  and change its state to open. When switch  18  is open, the DC current loop powered relay  20  coil become open and releases relay  20 &#39;s switch connect back to point  34  and  36  and leave point  33  and  35  opened, which also stops sending power to motor contact point  22 , hence motor  14  will be stopped.  
         [0034]     The other operation this circuit is able to perform is retrieving operation. When the slide  11  isn&#39;t at home position, the slide home sensor switch  19  is connected to away position  30 . When user presses model car&#39;s front end and toggles trigger switch  4 , DC power come from  42  will cross over to point  31  will deliver to second DC relay  21  and turn the switch to connect point  37  and  39 . DC power positive from point  37  to point  39  not only goes to motor contact point  23  to start driving motor  14 , it also goes through diode  24  and resistor  26  to keep DC relay  21 &#39;s coil powered when user releases trigger switch  4 , which means point  31  is opened from DC power positive. Motor  14  gets grounded from point  36  which is closed to point  34  since relay  20 &#39;s coil isn&#39;t powered.