GB2185219A

GB2185219A - Key holder with writing instrument

Info

Publication number: GB2185219A
Application number: GB08628840A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Aldo Moro
Original assignee: DAJNA DI ALDO MORO
Current assignee: DAJNA DI ALDO MORO
Priority date: 1986-01-10
Filing date: 1986-12-02
Publication date: 1987-07-15
Also published as: GB2185219B; DE8631918U1; IT207915Z2; FR2592774B3; ES1000941U; GB8628840D0; CH669094A5; IT8652829V0; JPS62113781U; FR2592774A3; ES1000941Y

Abstract

A key holder (1) comprises a body portion (7) having a key ring (3) secured thereto and provided with an elongate slot open at one end. A writing instrument (5), e.g. a ball point pen, is mounted on the body portion (7) by mounting means (11, 15) enabling the writing instrument (5) to be slid along, and to be pivoted within, the elongate slot to allow movement of the writing instrument (5) between a rest position and a writing position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Key holder with extractable writing instrument This invention relates to a key holder having an extractable writing instrument, e.g. a ball point pen.

It is known that at present key holders of all types are in use for publicity purposes.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide a key holder having a writing instrument, e.g. a ball point pen, which can be positioned in both a rest position and a writing position.

What constitutes a key holder in accordance with the present invention is set out in the following claim 1.

Conveniently the body portion and writing instrument are substantially flat and have a generally rectangular or parallelepiped form. In this case the key holder has a relatively compact and smooth body which is not bulky.

The mounting means suitably comprise pivot pins slidably and pivotably received in grooves. Typically the pivot pins are in the body portion and extend from opposite sides of the elongate slot towards the interior of the latter. In this case the grooves are arranged on opposite sides of the writing instrument.

Alternatively the pivot pins may be formed on the writing instrument and the grooves provided along opposite sides of the slot.

In the case of a key holder having pivot pins received in grooves, interengaging means of the writing instrument and the body portion are preferably provided to prevent pivoting of the writing instrument relative to the body portion when the writing instrument is in its rest or writing positions. The interengaging means may include retaining means (or separate retaining means, e.g. detent means may be provided) for releasably retaining the writing instrument in its rest or writing positions.

The body portion preferably includes a hole at the closed end of said elongate slot for receiving a tip portion of the writing instrument when the latter is in its rest position.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with particular reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a key holder according to the invention having a writing instrument retained in a closed or rest position.

Figure 2 is a front view of the key holder shown in Figure 1 but with the writing instrument slid into an open or outer position, Figure 3 is a front view of the key holder of Figures 1 and 2, but with the writing instrument turned through 180" relative to its position shown in Figure 2, and positioned in a writing position, Figure 4 is a side view of the key holder as shown in Figure 3, Figure 5 is a front view of the fork-shaped body portion of the key holder with the writing instrument removed therefrom, Figure 6 is a section taken on line VI-VI of Figure 5, Figure 7 is a section taken on line VII-VII of Figure 5, Figure 8 is a front view of the writing instrument of the key holder, Figure 9 is a side view of the writing instrument shown in Figure 8, and Figure 10 is a top plan of the writing instrument shown in Figure 8.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a key holder generally designated 1, of a substantially flat parallelepiped form comprising a body 7, typically of plastics material, having a key ring 3 secured at one end thereof. A writing instrument in the form of a ball point pen 5, and likewise having a substantially flat and rectangular shape is slidably and pivotably mounted in an elongate slot formed in the body 7. The pen 5 can be moved within the slot between a closed or rest position (see Figure 1) and a writing position (see Figure 3), the pen having been turned through 1800 between its rest and writing positions. In its closed or rest position, the pen body is fully received within the elongate slot, but in its writing position, the pen body is in an extracted or partly projecting position.

The ball point pen holder body 7 is substantially U-shaped, having a pair of legs 7 defining the elongate slot open at one end. Two pivot pins 11 are provided on the inside of the legs 9, which pins extend perpendicularly to the legs 9 towards the interior of the elongate slot and which are located in the plane of the body 7.

At least two grooves 15, which will be explained in greater detail hereinafter, extend longitudinally along the edges 13 of the ball point pen 5 corresponding to the small sides of its cross section. The pivot pins 11 are received within the grooves 15 to permit both rotation and axially sliding movement of the pen body 5 relative to the pen holder body 7 to permit the pen body 5 to be partially extracted and secured in the writing position as well as restored into the rest position after writing. The grooves 15 of the ball point pen 5 have a well defined length relative to the length of the pen 5 to permit the pen, as explained previously, to be extracted from its rest position (Figure 1) into an extracted position (Figure 2) and then to be turned over through 180 and fixed in its writing position (Figure 3).This fixing is made possible by two projecting guides 1 7 provided in the vicinity of the connection between the legs 9 of the Ushaped body 7 at one end of the elongate slot and which extend parallel to the grooves 15 and to the legs 9. The projecting guides 17 are moved or wedged into appropriate grooves 19 provided at the end or bottom of the ball point pen 5 remote from the writing point 35. The engagement between the projecting guides 17 and the grooves 19 makes the position of the pen 5 stable when it is in its partially extracted writing position. It will be appreciated that the pen 5 is pushed into the slot slightly to provide the interengagement between the guides 17 and grooves 19.

To disengage this interengagement, it is necessary to withdraw or extract the pen 5 a small distance out of the slot.

The shape of the grooves 15 on the edges 13 of the pen 5 deserves particular attention.

First of all, these grooves have a well defined length which corresponds to about three quarters of the length of the edges 13 and over this length are constituted by a plane portion 21, a blind hole 23, a second plane portion 25, a projection 27 and an adjacent inclined plane 29 terminating in a plane section 33 having a transverse groove 31 formed therein.

The blind holes 23 are the natural seats of the pivot pins 11 for the rotation of the pen body 5. The plane sections 21 and 25 adjacent the holes 23 are the seats for sliding movement of the pen body 5 relative to the pivot pins 11. The projections 27 constitute stop means for the sliding movement of the pen 5 when it is partially extracted or moved outwards within the slot. The inclined planes 29 provide safe means of exerting pressure on (or widening) the legs 9 of the U when the pen 5 is first inserted into the slot (e.g. as a refill) or for replacing after becoming disengaged from the body 7.

The body 7 adjacent the bottom of the elongate slot is provided with a blind hole 37 adapted to receive in its interior the writing point 35 of the refill of the pen 5 when the pen is in its rest position. The projecting guides 17 are each provided with an appropriate transverse projection 39. The projections 39 are adapted to engage the transverse grooves 31 of the grooves 15 when the pen is in its rest position. In this manner, when the pen 5 is restored into its rest position, the writing point 35 of the refill is inserted into the hole 37 and the pen is releasably locked in its rest position by the engagement with a snapping effect between the transverse projections 39 and the transverse grooves 31.

In other embodiments (not shown) the key holder may have different shapes. Furthermore, the pivot pins 11 could be provided on the pen 5 and the grooves 15 formed in the inside surfaces of the legs 9. In this latter case, the two pivot pins 11 could form opposite ends of a single pivot pin. The writing instrument need not of course be a ball point pen, other forms of writing instrument e.g. a fibre tip pen, being usable. The body 7 is shown in one part although it is possible to be in two or more detachable parts.

Claims

1. A key holder comprising a body portion having a key ring secured or securable thereto and provided with an elongate slot open at one end, a writing instrument, and mounting means for mounting the writing instrument on the body portion so that the writing instrument is slidable along, and pivotable within, said elongate slot to enable movement of the writing instrument relative to said body portion between a non-writing, rest position and a writing position.

2. A key holder according to claim 1, in which the writing instrument comprises a ball point pen.

3. A key holder according to claim 1 or 2, in which the writing instrument is turned through 1800 relative to the said body portion when occupying one of said rest and writing positions as opposed to the other of said rest and writing positions.

4. A key holder according to any of claims 1 to 3, in which the mounting means comprise two pivot pins provided on the body portion and which project from opposite sides of, towards the interior of, said elongate slot and grooves provided along opposite sides of a body of said writing instrument in which said pivot pins are slidably and pivotably received.

5. A key holder according to any of claims 1 to 3, in which the mounting means comprise grooves along opposite sides of said elongate slot and pivot pins projecting from opposite sides of a body of said writing instrument and which are slidably and pivotably received in said grooves.

6. A key holder according to claim 4 or 5, in which each groove includes a first portion having a bottom surface extending parallel to the elongate direction of said slot and a hole in said bottom surface between opposite ends of the first portion providing a pivot pin seat.

7. A key holder according to any of claims 4 to 6, comprising first engaging means on the body of said writing means and second engaging means on said body portion, said first and second engaging means being interengaged to prevent pivoting of the writing instrument relative to said body portion when the writing instrument is in said rest position or said writing position, the writing instrument being slidable outwardly along said slot when in said rest or writing positions to disengage said first and second engaging means and permit pivotal movement of the writing instrument relative to the said body portion.

8. A key holder according to claim 7, in which the second engaging means is provided adjacent an end of said slot opposite said open end and the first engaging means comprise two engagement means provided at opposite ends of said body of the writing means, one or the other of said engagement means interengaging with the second engaging means in dependence on whether the writing instrument is in its rest position or its writing position.

9. A key holder according to claim 8, in which the second engaging means comprise a projecting guide on at least one of the opposite sides of said slot and the first engaging means comprise corresponding grooves at opposite ends of at least one of the opposite sides of the writing instrument.

10. A key holder according to any of claims 7 to 9, in which the writing instrument is received fully within said elongate slot when in its rest position but projects from the open end of the elongate slot when in its writing position.

11. A key holder according to any of the preceding claims including means, e.g. detent means, for providing an easily overcomable resistance force resisting sliding movement of the writing instrument relative to said body portion when the writing instrument is in its rest position.

12. A key holder according to any of the preceding claims, in which a hole is formed in said body portion at the end of the slot remote from the open end of the latter, the hole being dimensioned to receive a writing tip of said writing instrument when the latter is in its rest position.

13. A key holder according to any of the preceding claims, in which said body portion is of substantially flat parallelepiped form and the writing instrument is of a substantially flat rectangular shape.

14. A key holder constructed and arranged substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

15. A key holder comprising a substantially flat parallelepiped body having a key holder ring secured thereto and carrying and extractable writing instrument, e.g. a ball point pen, of substantially flat, rectangular shape, characterized in that the said body is U-shaped having two spaced apart legs defining an elongate slot open at one end, in that two projecting pivot pins are provided on, and extend perpendicularly to, said legs towards the interior of said slot, and that said writing instrument is slidably and pivotably mounted between said legs, the writing instrument having at least two grooves extending longitudinally along the edges thereof corresponding to its smaller sides in cross section, said pivot pins being adapted to engage said grooves to permit both rotation and axially sliding movement of said writing instrument relative to the said body to permit said writing instrument to be extracted and secured in a writing position as well as to be returned to a rest position after writing.

16. A key holder according to claim 15, in which said grooves thereof have a predetermined length relative to the length of the writing instrument to permit the latter to be partially extracted from between the legs, rotated and secured in the writing position due to the axially sliding movement of said writing instrument relative to the pivot pins, fixing in the writing position being made possible by two projecting guides extending parallel to the grooves and provided on said body in the vicinity of the end of said elongate slot remote from its open end, said projecting guides being wedged into or received in appropriate grooves provided for this purpose on the bottom of the writing instrument, the coupling between the grooves and projecting fixing guides rendering stable the position of the writing instrument in the extracted writing position.