Patent ID: 8511508

Claim:
A case for holding articles, comprising: a bottom wall; a sidewall mounted about the periphery of said bottom wall and projecting upwardly therefrom; an open end forming an opening that receives an article; a pair of catches mounted to said sidewall in opposed relation to one another; a pair of elongate, flexible latches mounted to said bottom wall in opposed relation to one another in cooperative alignment with said pair of catches; a pocket-gripping means mounted to each latch of said pair of latches at a distal free end of each latch; each latch of said pair of latches being biased away from said case so that each pocket-gripping means is spaced apart from said sidewall when in a position of repose so that when a latch is manually pulled from its associated catch, an inherent bias of the latch deploys it into a pocket-gripping operative position, said position of repose of the deployed latches placing said pocket-gripping means transversely apart from one another by a distance that exceeds the width of a shirt pocket; said pocket-gripping means having a high friction surface for gripping the interior of said shirt pocket; each latch of said pair of latches having a deployed configuration and a stored configuration; each latch being changed from its deployed configuration to its stored configuration when said inherent bias is manually overcome; said pocket-gripping means engaging opposite sides of said shirt pocket, thereby preventing said case and its contents from falling from said shirt pocket when a user bends over or otherwise inverts the shirt pocket; each catch of said pair of catches including abutting parts formed of a resilient material that collectively enclose a latch-receiving opening and that confront one another at their respective free ends in spaced apart relation from said sidewall; each latch entering into engagement with an associated catch when said confronting parts are momentarily displaced to allow entry of each latch into its associated latch-receiving opening; each latch exiting from its associated catch when said confronting parts are momentarily displaced to allow exit of each latch from its associated latch-receiving opening; each catch of said pair of catches being formed of a single part that is connected to said sidewall; and each catch having multiple bends formed therein to form a substantially enclosed space, said substantially enclosed space being closed on three sides and partially open on a fourth side to admit a latch that follows a path of travel into said substantially enclosed space.