U.S. patent application number 10/154703 was filed with the patent office on 2003-11-27 for inflation needle storage device.
Invention is credited to Manix, Mary, Manix, Paul.
Application Number | 20030217983 10/154703 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29548939 |
Filed Date | 2003-11-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030217983 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Manix, Paul ; et
al. |
November 27, 2003 |
Inflation needle storage device
Abstract
An Inflation Needle Storage Device 10 to keep track of, protect
and store sports ball inflation needles 14. The Inflation Needle
Storage Device 10 is made of resilient material with a rectangular
base 18 and receiving holes 12 designed so that the stems of
inflation needles 14 fit snugly inside each receiving hole 12 and
are held in place by friction so that they can not fall out. The
Inflation needle storage device 10 has a vertical hole 16 therein
to thread an attachment device, such as a nail, chain, string or
wire to attach the inflation needle storage device 10 to any
convenient surface. The Inflation Needle Storage Device 10 provides
an easy practical place to store inflation needles and it also
saves money because the owner will not be purchasing inflation
needles 14 simply because they cannot find the ones they have
misplaced.
Inventors: |
Manix, Paul; (Woodland
Hills, CA) ; Manix, Mary; (Woodland Hills,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Paul Manix
22627 HATTERAS STREET
WOODLAND HILLS
CA
91367
US
|
Family ID: |
29548939 |
Appl. No.: |
10/154703 |
Filed: |
May 24, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/89.01 ;
211/70.6 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45C 11/00 20130101;
A63B 41/12 20130101; A45F 5/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/89.01 ;
211/70.6 |
International
Class: |
A47F 005/08 |
Claims
We claim:
1. An inflation needle storage holder comprising a resilient
rectangular base having one or more evenly spaced inflation needle
stem receiving holes on the same plane extending horizontally into
said resilient base, being completely circumvented between opposed
first and second surfaces, creating a retaining force on said
inflation needles.
2. The holder of claim 1 in which said inflation needle stem
receiving holes are of a smaller diameter than said inflation
needle stems, sufficient to create a constant retaining force
against said inflation needles to frictionally hold them in
place.
3. The holder of claim 1 in which the resilient rectangular base
has a vertical hole therein, hanging means, which fit through said
vertical hole to hang inflation needle holder.
4. The holder of claim 1 whereby the rectangular resilient base may
be any shape, round, trapezoidal, square, oval or oblong.
5. The holder of claim 4 whereby resilient base has one or more
evenly spaced inflation needle receiving holes on the same plane
extending horizontally into said resilient base, being completely
circumvented between opposed first and second surfaces, creating a
retaining force on the inflation needles.
6. The holder of claim 4 in which said inflation needle stem
receiving holes are of a smaller diameter than said inflation
needle stems, sufficient to create a constant retaining force
against said inflation needles.
7. The holder of claim 4 in which the round trapezoidal, square or
oval or oblong resilient base has a vertical hole therein, hanging
means which fit through said vertical hole to hang inflation needle
holder.
Description
[0001] This invention is described in our Disclosure Document
#476325 filed Jun. 29, 2000.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates in general to holding devices for
inflation needles. More specifically, this invention relates to a
portable inflation needle holder, which can be attached to an air
pump, key chain, gym bag, backpack or belt loop.
[0003] Inflation needles are commonly needed around the home,
school and gym for a variety of uses. Some of these uses are for
inflation of footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, rugby balls,
water polo balls, soccer balls and kick balls. Inflation needles
are usually sold three to a package. Once the cardboard and plastic
package is opened and the first needle is used, the other two
quickly get misplaced. The first needle is often left attached to
the pump and gets bent and is rendered useless. They usually snap
into two pieces when you try to straighten them. The search for an
inflation needle usually starts on the way out of the when the ball
to be used in the game that day is discovered to be flat. After a
mad dash through the house searching for those elusive inflation
needles, the owner has to make a choice between a quick stop at the
sporting goods store or playing with a flat ball.
[0004] Storage racks for some articles are also known, such as the
racks described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,794 to Drower, or in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,700 to Crossen, Jr., or U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,365
to Henderson. These racks, however, are not suited to inflation
needles, because inflation needles need to be attached to a
specific convenient location at the choice of the user, which may
be fixed or portable. Inflation needles on the garage wall will not
help the sports enthusiast who discovers on the playing field that
the game ball needs air. The above patents are rendered usless when
portability is needed. The above patents are not suitable to house
inflation needles because the needles would fall out if the patents
were turned upside down. None of the above patents are portable and
if they were, the objects in them would be lost or damaged in short
order because the contents are not held in place by friction.
Additionally, inflation needles stems are easily damaged, and none
of the above holders would protect the stems by completely encasing
them in material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The inflation needle storage holder of the present invention
comprises one resilient rectangular base having one or more evenly
spaced horizontal inflation needle receiving holes into said base
adapted to frictionally hold one or more inflation needles and
protect them from damage. The said horizontal receiving holes are
smaller in diameter than the inflation needles and hold the
inflation needles in place tightly enough that they cannot fall
out. The inflation needles are accessed by pulling the stems out of
their receiving holes and pushing them back into the receiving
holes when finished, similar to a the way one uses an knife and
sheath. The resilient rectangular base has a vertical hole therein
to thread an attachment device such as nail, beaded chain, piece of
wire or string to attach the holder to any convenient surface
determined by the user, such as a wall, gym bag, air pump,
backpack, locker or a key chain, providing an easy, practical place
to store inflation needles so they are easily located when needed.
The inflation needle storage holder is made of pliable material,
such as rubber, plastic, cork, paper, foam rubber, but not limited
to these materials. The inflation needle storage resilient base may
be any shape: round, square, oval, trapezoidal or oblong.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention
are as follows:
[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide convenient
and reliable accessibility to inflation needles anywhere the user
desires: home, school, park or sporting venue.
[0008] It is also an object of the present invention to provide
such a device, which is of simple, inexpensive construction.
[0009] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a
storage device that helps prevent damage to inflation needles stems
by surrounding them with resilient material.
[0010] A further object is to provide such a device with will
greatly reduce loss of time and expense incurred from losing and
misplacing inflation needles.
[0011] Another object of the invention is to provide a brand image
to inflation needles by affixing a logo on exterior of resilient
base.
[0012] Yet another object of the invention is to provide an
inflation needle storage device which can be either permanently
affixed to an object or portable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the inflation needle storage
device of this invention with inflation needles frictionally held
in position.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a top plan view with two inflation needles held in
place.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view with two inflation needles held
in place.
[0016] FIG. 4. Is a side view of the inflation needle holding
device.
[0017] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the holding device without
inflation needles.
[0018] FIG. 6 is an inflation needle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1-6,
the inflation needle holder 10 of this invention comprising a
resilient rectangular base 18. The resilient rectangular base 18
has from one to a plurality of inflation needle receiving holes 12
the diameters of which is smaller than the inflation needles 14, so
that the inflation needle 14 is held in place by a constant
retaining force and cannot fall out of the holder 10 and get lost.
Inflation needles 14 must be inserted into the receiving hole 12
and removed by pulling the needle 14 out of the receiving hole 12.
The inflation needle holder 10 has a vertical hole 16 through which
a nail, chain, wire, or string can be used to attached needle
holder 10 to a wall, gym bag, backpack, key ring, air pump, locker
or any other location desired by the user. The inflation needle
storage device can be manufactured from any convenient resilient
material, such as ABS (Acrylonitryl-butadyene-styrene), rubber,
polyethylene or polypropylene, foam rubber, cardboard or cork, but
not limited to these. While the device shown has two receiving
holes to hold inflation needles, the device could have from one to
a plurality of inflation needle receiving holes.
[0020] Having thus described the invention,
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