Abstract:
A holder for receiving and releasably retaining ferrous metal ammunition magazines for firearms in a pocket of a garment includes a rare earth magnet positioned in a passage formed centrally through a ferrous metal plate, with the passage having a front end region that is sized to retain the magnet within the passage. A rear opening of the passage is closed by a flat central region of a C-shaped ferrous metal retaining member that has spaced, forwardly extending right and left arms for retaining an ammunition magazine therebetween and in contact with a front surface of the metal plate. An elongate reverse-bent metal clip positioned rearwardly of the retaining member is configured to grip garment pocket material to secure the holder where desired.

Description:
REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/266,390 entitled MAGNETIC POCKET CLIP TO HOLD FIREARM MAGAZINE filed Dec. 11, 2015 by GRAIG MICHAEL DAVIS, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application also is a Continuation-In-Part of each of two pending Design Applications, namely: 
     1) Ser. No. 29/620,284 filed Sep. 15, 2016 by Graig Davis entitled Pants Pocket Magnetic Retainer For Ammunition Magazines; and, 
     2) Ser. No. 29/620,283 filed Sep. 15, 2016 by Graig Davis entitled Pants Pocket Magnetic Retainer For Ammunition Magazines. 
     The disclosures of all of the aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Many of the people who carry concealed firearms also desire to carry one or more “backup magazines” each containing an auxiliary supply of ammunition. 
     To ensure that ammunition-containing backup magazines are readily accessible without being readily noticeable, those who carry concealed firearms often desire to carry their backup magazines in an easily accessed pocket of a garment—typically a front pants pocket. 
     Designing a holder for carrying a backup ammunition magazine in a front pants pocket needs to take into account the fact that a magazine loaded with ammunition is relatively heavy, often tends to move about, and quickly can become lodged in a less than comfortable pocket location where the magazine may not be easy to access. 
     Some designers of ammunition magazine holders have Laken the approach of providing plastic materials together with padding and/or soft leather to surround each backup magazine—but this often has tended to increase the size and bulbous nature of the holders, rendering them less suitable and more clumsy to be carried in a front pants pocket or the like. 
     Some designers of ammunition magazine holders have taken the approach of utilizing thin, relatively lightweight metal such as aluminum to define a retaining compartment for a backup magazine—but this approach has often has led to the provision of holders that are easily crushed or otherwise deformed, many of which have been cheaply and inappropriately constructed. The resulting holders have often been constructed from inexpensive materials that are not well suited to providing a lengthy life of good and reliable service. 
     Although some designers of magazine holders have attempted to provide a clip or other means for attaching one or more portions of a magazine holder to one or more selected portions of a garment, the clips or other forms of retainers that have been proposed or provided have not proven to be well suited to the task of retaining ammunition magazines at particular desired locations within a garment pocket. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a minimalist type of back-up magazine holder capable of being inconspicuously clipped inside a garment pocket, such as a front pants pocket or the like. 
     Magazine holders embodying the preferred practice of the present invention are ruggedly constructed, and include a small set of ferrous metal components that cooperate with a remarkably strong rare earth magnet that securely releasably retains ammunition magazines between a pair of parallel-extending arms of a C-shaped retaining member that can be quickly and easily interchanged with other sizes of C-shaped retaining members, thereby permitting magazine holders that embody the present invention to receive and releasably retain any of more than a hundred sizes and configurations of commonly used ammunition magazines for firearms. 
     A feature of ammunition magazine holders that embody the preferred practice of the present invention is that, with the removal of only two conveniently located screws, the C-shaped retaining member of each magazine holder can be quickly and easily interchanged with two or more other sizes of C-shaped retaining members, each of which is capable of retaining and restraining 30 or more sizes and configurations of commonly used backup ammunition magazines. 
     By purchasing a kit containing one assembled magazine holder together with two alternate sizes of C-shaped retaining members, a person who has even a large collection of concealed carry firearms can use his or her magazine holder to carry nearly all of the many commonly used sizes and shapes of backup ammunition magazines. 
     A further feature of ammunition magazine holders that embody the preferred practice of the present invention is that each of the holders includes a strong and well-designed pocket clip that is capable of clampingly engaging a flap of garment material such as covers the exterior of a pants pocket, to securely retain and hold an ammunition magazine in a selected position, thereby permitting a backup magazine to be quickly, easily and reliably accessed when it is wanted or needed. 
     Although the strong rare earth neodymium magnet that resides at the heart of magazine holders embodying the present invention is commercially available, it is understood to represent the most advanced commercialized permanent magnet material available today. Its strength and reliability provide magazine holders that embody the preferred practice of the present invention with product features of unequaled reliability. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing principally front, top and right side features of a preferred practice of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an alternate perspective view showing principally rear, top and left side features thereof; 
         FIG. 3  is a top view thereof; 
         FIG. 4  is a left side view thereof; 
         FIG. 5  is a bottom view thereof; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view thereof, as seen from a plane indicated by a line  6 - 6  in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded view thereof; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view showing a relatively small retaining member that can be substituted for a relatively large retaining member that is depicted in the exploded view of  FIG. 7 , and in  FIGS. 1-6 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view showing a relatively medium sized retaining member than can be substituted for any of the retaining members that are shown in  FIGS. 1-8 ; exploded view of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a top view much like  FIG. 3 , with a dotted rectangle labeled “M” added thereto to indicate generally where an ammunition magazine is received and releasably retained by the holder of the present invention; and, 
         FIG. 11  is a left side view much like  FIG. 4 , with a dotted rectangle labeled “M” added thereto to indicate generally where an ammunition magazine can be positioned in a pocket of one&#39;s trousers, with “G” indicating where a flap or reach of garment pocket material can be received between the legs of a metal clip component of a holder embodying the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Shown in  FIG. 1  are front, top and right side features of a magnetic pocket clip ammunition magazine holder  100  embodying a preferred practice of the present invention, that is designed to receive, one at a time, a wide variety of sizes and configurations of such ammunition magazines as are in current day use by, for and with firearms such as handguns, and even some long guns such as rifles (not shown). 
     Shown in  FIG. 2  are rear, top and left side features of the same ammunition magazine holder  100 ; and, shown in  FIGS. 3, 4 and 5  are top, left and bottom views of the magazine holder  100 . 
     Shown in the exploded view provided by  FIG. 7  are the components of the magazine holder  100 . The components shown in  FIG. 7  include a disc-shaped rare earth magnet  110 , a relatively thick ferrous metal plate  120 , a C-shaped ferrous metal retaining member  130 , a pocket clip  140 , and a disc-shaped resilient rubber pad  150 . 
     A pair of conventional, commercially available threaded fasteners, namely two torx-head screws  160 , have threaded stem portions  164  for being tightened into threaded holes  124  formed through the metal plate  120  after passing through holes  134  and  144  that are formed through the retaining member  130  and the pocket clip  140 , respectively. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6  in conjunction with  FIG. 7 , the disc-shaped rare earth magnet  110  has opposed front and rear surfaces surfaces  111 ,  112 , respectively, and a round side surface  113 . A forty-five degree bevel  114  preferably provides a transition between the front surface  111  and the round side surface  113 . 
     The disc-shaped rare earth magnet  110  is preferably of a commercially available type of magnet such as can be purchased from Monroe Engineering LLC of Rochester Hills, Mich. (with a website at www.monroeengineering.com). Neodymium Iron Boron (NdFeB) and Samarium Cobalt (SmCo) rare earth magnets are alloys of the Lanthanide group of elements. Such rare earth magnets are understood to be made from the most advanced commercialized permanent magnet materials that are in existence today, and are available in a number of different grades that span a wide range of properties and application requirements, as is explained at Monroe Engineering&#39;s website. 
     The ammunition magazine holder  100  of the present invention is primarily intended to be provided in any of three sizes that will, for purposes of convenience, be referred to as “large,” “medium” and “small”—but can, of course, be provided in other sizes than are shown in the accompanying drawings or are explained in the text of this document. What differentiates the so-called “size” of various forms of the ammunition magazine holder  100  is the inside dimension of a C-shaped retaining component of the ammunition magazine holder  100 . 
     Shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , and in the exploded view of  FIG. 7 , is a magnetic pocket clip holder  100  that is provided with the largest of three presently available sizes of C-shaped retaining members  130 . Shown in  FIG. 8  is the smallest of three presently available sizes of C-shaped retaining members  128 . Shown in  FIG. 9  is an in-between or medium sized C-shaped retaining member  129 . The C-shaped retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130  are interchangeable, in that any one of the C-shaped retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130  can be substituted for another of the C-shaped retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130  to thereby provide magazine holders  100  of small, medium and large sizes, respectively. 
     The small sized retaining member  128  (as shown in  FIG. 8 ) preferably has a spacing between its right and left arms  201 ,  202 , respectively, of 1.125 inches. The medium sized retaining member  129  (shown in  FIG. 9 ) preferably has a spacing between its right and left arms  201 ,  202 , respectively, of 1.313 inches. The largest size retaining member  130  (shown in  FIGS. 1-7 ) preferably has a spacing between its right and left arms  201 ,  202 , respectively, of 1.438 inches. 
     The right and left arms  201 ,  202 , respectively, are preferably identically configured on all of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130 , and preferably extend forwardly from the front surface  223  of the central region  200  approximately one-half inch, and measure about one inch in height—which ensures that the arms  201 ,  202  do not interfere with portions of ammunition magazines being held in secure contact with the front surface  123  of the metal plate  120  (which is installed just forwardly of the central region  200  of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130 ) by the attraction of the rare earth magnet  110  of the holder assemblies  100 . 
     As will be readily understood by those who are skilled in the art, ammunition magazine holders that embody the present invention are assemblies that can easily be taken apart and reassembled not only 1) because each assembled holder  100  is held together by two easily removed threaded fasteners, namely the screws  160 , but also 2) because each assembly  100  consists principally of the ferrous metal components  120 ,  130  (or  128 ,  129 + 130 ) that also tend to be held together by the attraction of the associated disc-shaped rare earth magnet  110 . 
     As will be explained, releasing and replacing any one of the C-shaped retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  from one of the holder assemblies  100  requires nothing more than loosening and removing the two threaded fasteners  160 , and replacing one of the retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130  with a different one of the retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130 , whereafter the two removed threaded fasteners  160  are reinstalled to extend through aligned sets of holes  134 ,  144  formed through the assembled components  130  and  140 , respectively, with the replaced screws  160  then being tightened into the threaded holes  124  that extend through the metal plate  120 . 
     Reassembly of the magazine holder  100  with a differently selected C-shaped retaining member  128 ,  129  or  130  is facilitated by virtue of the strong rare earth magnet  110  which helps to hold the components of the magazine holder assembly  100  in place while the threaded fasteners  160  are being positioned to extend through aligned holes formed through components  120 ,  130  and  140  of the holder assembly  100 . 
     Each of the three sizes of retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  is capable of retaining and restraining more than 30 different sizes and configurations of ammunition magazines—such as are shown in various patents, such as Design Pats. D-614,721 and D-593,633 which depict generally straight ammunition magazines, and such as Design Pats. D-727,456 and D-593,635 which depict gently curved ammunition magazines. The disclosures of said design patents are incorporated herein by reference. 
     The metal plate  120  is preferably formed from ten gauge steel, and is therefore thicker than are the retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130 , all of which are preferably formed from twenty gauge steel. Although the metal clip  140  can be formed from spring steel or the like (that typically has approximately the same thickness as the retaining members  128 ,  129  and  130 ), the metal clip  140  is preferably formed from 0.40 inch thick titanium which can retain its integrity and its biasing action to provide a reliably lengthy service life. 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 7 , a relatively large diameter passage  122  has an opening  121  through a front surface  123  of the metal plate  120 . As can be seen in the cross-sectional view of  FIG. 6 , the passage  122  has a frustoconical configuration that widens as the passage  122  extends rearwardly from its relatively small diameter opening  121  through the front surface  123  to where the passage  122  opens through a rear surface  125  of the metal plate  120 . 
     The cross-sectional view of  FIG. 6  shows how the bevel  114  of the disc-shaped magnet  110  engages the frustoconically tapered passage  122  to position the front surface ill of the disc-shaped magnet  110  at a protected location slightly rearwardly with respect to the front surface  123  of the metal plate  120 . 
     In this document, such words as “front,” “rear,” “forwardly,” “rearwardly,” “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “upwardly,” “downwardly,” “left,” “right,” “leftwardly,” and “rightwardly” and “vertically” are used simply for purposes of convenience, and are not to be considered to be limiting. 
     Referring still to  FIG. 7 , in addition to the opposed front and rear surfaces  123  and  125 , respectively, the metal plate  120  has what will be referred to as a lower end region  126  and an upper end region  127 , as well as a bottom edge surface  189  and a top edge surface  190 . The upper end region  127  is bordered by not only the top edge surface  190 , but also by right and left inclined surfaces indicated by the numerals  191  and  192 , respectively. 
     The retaining member  130  shown in  FIG. 7  and the retaining members  128 ,  129  shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , respectively, all have features that are designated by common reference numerals, including the relatively wide central region  200  that is connected by right-angle bends to the right arm  201  and the left arm  202 , respectively, both of which arms extend forwardly from a front surface  223  of the central region  200 . 
     The central region  200  of each of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  has opposed front and rear surfaces  223 ,  225 , respectively (see  FIGS. 3 and 5 ), as well as a lower end region  226  and an upper end region  227 , and bottom edge surface  199  and a top edge surfaces  220  that join with inclined right and left surfaces  221 ,  222 , respectively. 
     In preferred practice, the right and left arms  201 ,  202  of each of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  preferably extend forwardly from the central region  200  of each of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  a distance of 0.536 inches, and have a height of 1.0 inch. By sizing the left and right arms  201 ,  202  as has just been explained, the arms  201 ,  202  are found to not obstruct portions of such ammunition magazines (not shown) as can normally be accommodated by the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130 . 
     Because some ammunition magazines (not shown) may need longer right and left arms  201 ,  202  to assist in retaining these ammunition magazines in place between the right and left arms  201 ,  202  of the retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130 , serious consideration is being given to providing retaining members  128 ,  129 ,  130  that have longer left and right arms  201 ,  202 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 7 , the metal clip  140  is of elongate configuration, and has an inverted U-shape bend  145  at its upper end, from which a relatively short front leg  147  and a relatively long rear leg  149  depend. The short front leg  147  has an enlarged formation  199  at its lower end region, through which the holes  144  extend. The long rear leg  149  narrows as it depends along an upper reach  153  of the rear leg  149  to where a gentle bend  155  is provided mid-way down the length of the long rear leg. From the region of the gentle bend  155 , a lower reach  154  of the long rear leg  149  extends to where another gentle bend  156  is provided near a rounded lower end region  157  of the long rear leg  149 . The lower reach  154  biases the bend  156  toward the rear surface  225  of the central region of the retaining member  130 , where the disc-shaped resilient rubber pad  150  is adhered to the rear surface  225  of the central region  200  of the retaining member  130 . 
     When the metal clip  140  is to receive a flap of pocket material (labeled “P” in  FIG. 11 ) to clamp the pocket material P against the resilient rubber pad  150 , the area of the gentle bend can be moved rearwardly away from the resilient rubber pad  150  for as long as is needed to permit the pocket material P to be installed between the rear leg  149  and the rear surface  225  of the central region  200  of the retaining member  130 . 
     When being used, ammunition magazines (such as are designated schematically in  FIGS. 10 and 11  by rectangles formed by broken lines and labeled “M”) are received between the forwardly-extending arms  201 ,  202  of a retaining member  130  (or  128 ,  129 ) and are held securely by the magnet  110  against a front surface  123  of the metal plate  120 . When positioned inside a pocket of a garment, a fabric portion indicated in  FIG. 11  by broken lines labeled “P” extends between the front and rear legs  147 ,  149 , respectively, of the metal clip  140 , and is clamped between the rear leg  149  and the rear surface  225  of the central region  200  of the receiving member  130  by the biasing action of the metal clip  140 . 
     Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the manner of manufacture and assembly may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     It is intended to protect whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed in the text hereof, in the accompanying drawings, and/or in the referenced provisional and the two referenced design applications, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.