Abstract:
A bag resealing clip set comprising two or more bag resealing clips, including a main clip and one or more auxiliary clips, the main clip comprising an attachment member for removably attaching the one or more auxiliary clips without opening the main clip.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to household items and, more particularly, to a clip set having a main clip for receiving and storing removably attachable auxiliary clips. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Bag resealing clips are used in the home for reclosing opened bags and keeping the contents fresh for extended periods of time. More particularly, such bag resealing clips are used when only a portion of the contents of a bag is consumed after opening and the user wants to store the remaining contents without placing them in a different storage container. 
         [0003]    Common bag resealing clips comprise a pair of opposed cooperating arms, each having a clamping end and an activation ends separated by a fulcrum, with an axel between the fulcrums for pivoting the arms relative to one another and a spring that biases the clamping ends together. When the activation ends are brought together against the bias of the spring, the clamping ends separate and the end of a bag to be resealed can be placed between the clamping ends. When the activation ends are released, the spring biases the clamping ends to close on the end of the bag to be resealed. 
         [0004]    These bag resealing clips are generally meant to reseal one bag at a time and are not always easy to store and organize when not in use. Therefore, a way to store and organize multiple bar resealing clips when not in use would advance the art. 
         [0005]    One such prior art attempt to store and organize bag resealing clips is found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,616,384, which describes a rigid strip that can be attached to a vertical surface for holding a plurality of ball socket clips that have resealed bags held by the clips on the vertical strip. The strip independently holds a balled end of a bag clip to independently retain each bag clip on the common surface of the strip, where the individual clips can be removed from the strip without disruption of the clip from the retained bag. 
         [0006]    However, the strip of the cited reference is intended to hold a number of bags with clips on the vertical strip, so that the strip for holding the clips takes up a fair amount of space. Specifically, the strip holds the individual clips with sufficient room between clips so that sequential resealed bags with contents can be held by adjacent clips on the vertical strip. 
         [0007]    Additionally, different sized bag resealing clips are commonly used for different size bags, or for when only a small portion of the edge of a bag is opened rather than the entire edge of the bag. In providing such bag resealing clips of different sizes, the common approach has been to attach the different sized clips to a backer card. However, that not only takes up a significant amount of space, since the clips are attached sequentially on the card. Also, the card is usually considered to be disposable, so the clips need to be stored. 
         [0008]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for storing and organizing bag resealing clips. It is another object of the invention to minimize the space needed to store multiple clips. It is a further object to store and organize clips of different sizes. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    These and other objects are addressed by the present invention, which is directed to bag resealing clip set comprising two or more bag resealing clips, one being a main bag resealing clip comprising an attachment member on a surface of the main bag resealing clip for removably attaching one or more auxiliary bag resealing clips. In the preferred embodiment, the attachment member on the main clip is capable of removably attaching a plurality of auxiliary clips, or the main clip has a plurality of attachment members for removably attaching a plurality of auxiliary clips. 
         [0010]    Preferably, the attachment member is located on an exterior surface of the main clip, so that the main clip does not need to be opened to attach an auxiliary clip to the main clip, and the main clip can be used to reseal a bag while the one or more auxiliary clips are attached to the main clip. This structure also allows that the one or more auxiliary clips can be attached to or removed from the main clip when the main clip is in use. 
         [0011]    More particularly, one or more of the auxiliary clips can be removed from the main clip while the main clip is being used to seal a first bag, for sealing additional bags that have been opened or to provide a better seal for the first bag. Similarly, such structure allows the user to replace an auxiliary clip that is no longer needed to reseal a bag on the main clip while the main clip is being used to reseal a bag. 
         [0012]    In the preferred embodiment, the one or more attachment members of the main clip hold a plurality of auxiliary clips. In a more preferred embodiment, the one or more attachment members hold the plurality of auxiliary clips in a line of auxiliary clips. 
         [0013]    The one or more attachment members of the main clip preferably cooperate with a portion of the one or more auxiliary clips to hold the one or more auxiliary clips on the main clip. Although not necessary, the attachment member on the main clip may have a cooperating element on the auxiliary clip that assists in maintaining the attachment between the main clip and the one or more auxiliary clips. 
         [0014]    The attachment member may be anything that helps retain the one or more auxiliary clips upon the mother clip, such as friction fit retainers, snaps, magnets, clips, clasps, hook and loop fasteners, a ridge or bar that the auxiliary clips can be clipped to, or combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the attachment member is a snap-in retainer comprising a plurality of retainer components that capture edges of an auxiliary clip. 
         [0015]    In another preferred embodiment, one of the mother and auxiliary clips comprise a magnet and the other comprises a cooperating magnet or a cooperating metallic element to which the first magnet is attracted. For example, the one or more auxiliary clips can include magnets on one side and the main clip can have a metallic element to which the magnet can be affixed. This would provide a synergistic effect, where the magnets on the auxiliary clips can be used not only to hold the clips to an appliance or other metallic surface, such as a refrigerator, but also function to fix the auxiliary clips to the main clip. 
         [0016]    An attachment member in the form of a ridge, including a rail, extending from a side of the main clip can be used to clip the auxiliary clips to. In this embodiment, the ridge extends a distance from the surface of the main clip a sufficient distance for one of the clamping members to fit under. The auxiliary clip is then opened and clamped about the ridge. 
         [0017]    It is also preferred that when more than one auxiliary clip is included in the set that each of the auxiliary clips is substantially the same size, so that they are interchangeable on the main clip. Although different sized auxiliary clips may be used on different areas of the main clip, making them uniform provides additional ease where the specific attachment location does not need to be determined by the user. 
         [0018]    The auxiliary clips are preferably retained on the clamping end of a main clip that is larger than the auxiliary clips, so that the auxiliary clips do not interfere with the activation ends of the main clip. In the most preferred embodiment, at least one entire side of the clamping end of the main clip has auxiliary clips positioned thereon. This also permits the activation portion of the main clip to be significantly smaller than the clamping portion of the main clip, as is often found on bag resealing clips for wide bags. Preferably, the clamping ends of the auxiliary clips are oriented in the same direction as the clamping end of the main clip for the sake of balance, but this is not required. 
         [0019]    Of course, the main clip and/or auxiliary clips may comprise one or more magnets for affixing to an appliance independent of the attachment member. Additionally, the main clip  4  and auxiliary clips  6  may have other known elements common to bag resealing clips, including but not limited to teeth along the clamping edges of the cooperating arms, silicone tubing along the clamping edges of the cooperating arms, a hole at the activation ends of the cooperating arms, etc. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]    The attached drawings are intended to better illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention without limiting the invention in any manner whatsoever. 
           [0021]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with the auxiliary clips attached to the main clip. 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 3A  is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the main clip of the present invention shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0024]      FIG. 3B  is a bottom plan view of the preferred embodiment of main clip of the present invention shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention with the auxiliary clips attached to the main clip. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0026]    The following description of the preferred embodiment is presented to describe the present invention without limiting the scope of the appended claims in any manner whatsoever. 
         [0027]    The clip set  2  of the preferred embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-3B  is comprised of a main clip  4  and a plurality of auxiliary clips  4  attached to the main clip  4  by attachment members  8 . 
         [0028]    As best shown in  FIG. 2 , the main clip  4  is formed of first and second cooperating arms  14 , each having a clamping end and an activation end separated by fulcrums  18 . An axel  10  is inserted through the fulcrums  9  of the cooperating arms  14  to create a hinge, allowing the cooperating arms  14  to rotate relative to one another about the axel  10 . A spring  12  biases the clamping ends of the cooperating arms  14  toward each other to maintain the clamping ends in closed relation for holding a bag in a sealed state. Additionally, the main clip  4  preferably includes a magnet  22  for use on a metallic surface, such as a refrigerator. The magnet  22  on the main clip  4  should be strong enough to support the mother clip  2  and auxiliary clips  4  on such a vertical metallic surface. 
         [0029]    The auxiliary clips  6  are each similarly formed of cooperating arms  20  with clamping ends and activation ends separated by fulcrums  18 , axels  10  for rotation of the cooperating arms  20  relative to each other, and springs  12  for biasing the clamping ends of the cooperating arms  20  together. The auxiliary clips  6  are all preferably of the same dimensions, so that any of the auxiliary clips  6  can fit into any of the spaces of the attachment members  8  for receiving an auxiliary clip  6  on the main clip  4 . 
         [0030]    The preferred embodiment shown includes attachment members  8  within a recess  16  on just one of the corresponding arms  14  of the main clip  4 , however, it is understood that attachment members  8  can be on both of the corresponding arms  14  if desired. As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3A , the recess  16  for receiving the auxiliary clips  6  is located along the clamping end of the first arm  14 . Most preferably, the clamping end of the main clip cooperating arm  14  is dimensioned to the number and shape of the auxiliary clips  6  that are to be housed thereon. 
         [0031]    Although not necessary to the present invention, the auxiliary clips  6  are preferably lined up serially along the clamping end of the first arm  14  of the main clip  4 , with the clamping ends of the auxiliary clips  6  oriented in the direction of the clamping end of the main clip  4 . 
         [0032]    The attachment members  8  can take any form, but are here shown to be a number of attachment components formed as detents placed within the recess  14  to engage the corners of the auxiliary clips  6 , so that the auxiliary clips  6  can snap-in and out of the main clip  4 . Of course, the attachment means  8  can comprise cooperating elements on the main clip  4  and auxiliary clips  6 , as mentioned above. 
         [0033]    For example, a magnetic attachment member  8 , it is preferred that the auxiliary clips  6  include magnets on the rear arm  20  and the floor of the recess  16  on the arm  14  of the main clip  4  be formed of a metallic surface that can hold the auxiliary clips  6  on the main clip  4 . 
         [0034]    In another example, shown in  FIG. 4 , the attachment member  8 ′ is a ridge or bar that extends across the clamping end of the cooperating arm  14  of the main clip  4  so that the clamping ends of the auxiliary clips  6  can be affixed to the attachment member  8 ′. Such a ridge or bar is preferably used in combination with the recess  16  on the cooperating arm  14  to properly position the auxiliary clips  6  when all of the auxiliary clips  6  are retained on the main clip  4 . 
         [0035]    The main clip  4  should be able to both retain the auxiliary clips  6  and be used to reseal a bag both independently and at the same time. In keeping, it is preferred that the auxiliary clips  6  are docked in such a way that they do not interfere with the user engaging and manipulating the activation end of the main clip  4  for sealing or unsealing bags. 
         [0036]    Embodiments of the invention may allow for a plurality of different sized auxiliary clips  6  that can be attached to the same or different attachment members  8  on the main clip  4 . Such an embodiment may have distinct areas for particularly sized auxiliary clips  6 , where a particular auxiliary clip  6  is attached at a specific location on the main clip  4  or the use of an attachment member  8  that is adapted to receive auxiliary clips  6  of different sizes. 
         [0037]    Variations, modifications and alterations to the above detailed description will be apparent to those skilled in the art. All such variations, modifications and/or alternatives are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention, limited only by the appended claims. All cited patents and publications are hereby incorporated by reference.