License Holder

Abstract

A card holder adapted to be worn on the attire of a user generally consisting of a base ply, an upper front ply having a window, secured to an upper front portion of the base ply to provide an upwardly opening, first card receiving pocket and a depending flap on the base ply, a lower front ply secured at an upper portion thereof to a front side of the base ply depending flap, a lower ply secured to the lower front ply to provide an upwardly opening, second card receiving pocket, means for detachably securing the lower front and back plies to a portion of the upper front ply when the lower and back plies are folded rearwardly and upwardly, along the rear side of the base ply, and means for detachably securing the holder to the attire of a user.

Description

The present invention relates generally to a device for holding cards and more particularly to a dual card holder for displaying two separate cards such as hunting licenses, on wearing apparel.

Under the game laws of many states, it is required that hunters have separate deer licenses for hunting buck and doe which must be displayed on the wearing apparel of the hunter either separately or together. In the prior art, it has been the conventional practice to use separate license holders which are adapted to be worn either separately or together for displaying one or two licenses, depending on the nature of the animal being hunted. Such practice, however, has been found to be unsatisfactory and inconvenient in that it has required the switching of such licenses under circumstances where only a single license was required to be displayed, resulting in the mutilation, misplacing or loss of the licenses, or the use of separate holders under circumstances where two licenses were required to be displayed simultaneously, resulting in a cumbersome means for displaying the two licenses and possibly damage to the attire of the user in detachably securing more than one holder to the attire.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a novel card holding device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel device for holding and displaying a pair of cards such as hunting licenses either separately or together.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel card holder which conveniently may be attached to and removed from the wearing apparel of the user.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel holder for displaying a pair of cards such as hunting licenses on the attire of a user either separately or together which is comparatively simple in construction and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel holder for displaying a pair of cards such as hunting licenses on the attire of a user either separately or together wherein both of such cards can be easily inserted and removed by the user when desired.

A further object of this invention is to provide a dual license holder which is lightweight and flexible to minimize the discomfort to the wearer .

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention, illustrating the front portion thereof;

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, illustrating the back portion thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrating the embodiment in a folded condition;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated an embodiment of the invention adapted to hold a pair of hunting licenses, generally consisting of a base ply 20, an upper front ply 22 cooperating with the base ply to provide a first license receiving pocket, a lower front ply 24 secured to the base ply and a lower back ply 26 cooperating with the lower front ply to provide a second license receiving pocket. The plies 20, 22, 24 and 26 are fabricated from a flexible material such as plastic, leather or canvas and are substantially rectangular in shape.

The base ply 20 has substantially parallel side edges 28 and 30 and substantially parallel upper and lower edges 32 and 34. The upper front ply 22 has substantially parallel side edges 36 and 38 and substantially parallel upper and lower edges 40 and 42. The upper front ply is positioned on the front side of the base ply, having its lower edge 42 spaced above the lower edge 34 of the base ply to provide a depending flap 44 at the lower end of the base ply, and is secured to the base ply by stitching along side edges 36 and 38 and lower edge 42 to form a first license receiving pocket with an opening at the upper end thereof. The upper end of the upper front ply 22 extends above the upper edge 32 of the base ply and is folded backwardly and downwardly to form cover flap 46 overlying the opening of first license receiving pocket.

The cover flap 46 is stitched to the main body of upper front ply 22 to provide a transverse tunnel 48. A leg portion 52 of a safety pin fastener 50 is disposed within tunnel 48 to suspend the holder from the fastener. The safety pin fastener 50 detachably secures the main body of the holder to a member 56 adapted to be secured to the apparel of the user, usually the rear portion of a collar or the flap of a pocket, by stitching or other suitable means. The member 56 consists of a ply of flexible material similar to the material of which the plies 20, 22, 24 and 26 are formed, and is provided with a lower portion folded rearwardly and upwardly to provide a transverse tunnel 58 adapted to receive therethrough a leg portion 59 of the pin fastener 50 to suspend the main body of the holder from the member 56.

The lower front ply 24 has substantially parallel side edges 60 and 62 and substantially parallel upper and lower edges 64 and 66. The upper edge 64 of ply 24 is disposed substantially coextensively with lower edge 42 of ply 22, and the ply 24 is secured by stitching along the upper edge 64 thereof to the front side of flap 44 along a line spaced above and parallel to the lower edge 34 of flap 44. Lower back ply 26 has substantially parallel side edges 70 and 72 and substantially parallel upper and lower edges 74 and 76. The side and lower edges of the lower front ply 24 and lower back ply 26 are stitched together to form the second license receiving pocket provided with an upper opening which is covered by depending flap 44 of the base ply.

The upper front ply 22 and lower front ply 24 are provided with windows 78 and 80 covered by flexible transparent plies 82 and 84 which are disposed between the upper front ply and the base ply, and the lower front ply and the lower rear ply, respectively, to expose and protect licenses placed in the license receiving pockets. Upper transparent ply 82 is disposed between upper front ply 22 and base ply 20 and is stitched to upper front ply 22 along the edges of the window 78. As best shown in FIG. 5, stitching 54 secures the upper portion of transparent ply 82 between the cover flap 46 and the front portion of the upper front ply which facilitates the insertion and removal of a license into and out of the upper license receiving pocket. The lower transparent ply 84 is disposed between the lower front and back plies and is stitched to lower front ply 24 along the edges of the window 80, also to facilitate the insertion and removal of a license into and out of the lower license receiving pocket.

The holder may be used in an open, unfolded condition as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 to display a pair of licenses disposed in the upper and lower license receiving pockets, or may be used in a closed, folded condition as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5 to display only a single license disposed in the upper license receiving pocket. The holder is detachably secured in the closed, folded condition by means of a snap fastener 86 including a male component 86a disposed on the front side of the lower front ply adjacent the lower edge 66 thereof which cooperates with a femal component 86b disposed on the inner side of cover flap 46. It will be noted that when the holder is in the closed, folded condition the lower ends of plies 24 and 26 are interposed between the upper portion of base ply 20 and cover flap 46, as best illustrated in FIG. 5.

The corners of the various plies may be relieved and indentations in the sides may be included as illustrated in the drawing for the purpose of enhancing the appearance and reducing the weight of the license holder.

The embodiment illustrated in the drawing may readily be fabricated in the following manner. Initially, the various components including base ply 20, upper front ply 22, lower front ply 24, lower back ply 26, transparent plies 82 and 84, and attaching member 56 are cut from their respective materials. Simultaneously, windows 78 and 80 are cut in upper front ply 22 and in lower front ply 24, and then the transparent plies 82 and 84 are stitched to plies 22 and 24 along the edges of windows 78 and 80. Male component 86a of the snap fastener is attached adjacent the lower edge of lower front ply 24 and female component 86b of the snap fastener is attached adjacent the upper edge of the upper front ply 22.

The upper front ply 22 is then stitched along side edges 36 and 38 and lower edge 42 to the base ply 20 to form the first license receiving pocket with the lower edge 42 of the upper front ply spaced above the lower edge 34 of the base ply to form depending flap 44. The upper portion of the front ply is folded rearwardly and downwardly over leg portion 52 of the safety pin fastener and stitched along the fold to form the transverse tunnel 48 to retain leg portion 52 and to form cover flap 46, as shown in FIG. 2. The lower front ply 24 is stitched to the lower end of the base ply with the upper edge 64 positioned adjacent lower edge 42 of the upper front ply 22. Ply 26 then is positioned on the rear face of lower front ply 22 and stitched thereto along coextensive side edges 60 and 70 and 62 and 72, and coextensive lower edges 66 and 76 to form the second license receiving pocket having an upper opening covered by depending flap 44.

Attaching member 54 similarly is folded and stitched to provide tunnel 58 for receiving portion 59 of safety pin fastener 50. Grommet 90 is then installed in the folded upper front ply as shown in the figures to complete the fabrication of the holder.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be evident that there are a number of changes, adaptations and modifications of the present invention which come within the providence of those skilled in the art. However, it is intended that all such variations not departing from the spirit of the invention be considered as within the scope thereof as limited solely by the appended claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A card holder adapted to be worn on the attire of a user comprising a base ply of flexible material, having upper, lower and side edges, an upper front ply of flexible material disposed on a front side of said base ply, having a lower edge spaced above the lower edge of said base ply to provide a depending flap at the lower end of said base ply and secured to said base ply along the lower and side edges thereof thereby cooperating with said base ply to provide a first card receiving pocket having an upper opening for receiving a first card therethrough, said upper front ply having a window for visibly exposing said first card disposed in said first card receiving pocket, a lower front ply of flexible material including upper, lower and side edges, having the upper portion thereof secured to the front side of the depending flap of said base ply and having a window therein, a lower back ply of flexible material secured along side edges and a lower edge to said lower front ply to provide a second card receiving pocket having an upper opening for receiving a card therethrough, means for detachably securing one of said lower front or back plies to one of said upper front or base plies when said lower front and back plies defining said second card receiving pocket are folded rearwardly and upwardly, and are disposed adjacent a backside of said base ply, and means for attaching said holder to the attire of the user.

2. A card holder as recited in claim 1 wherein the upper portion of said upper front ply is folded rearwardly and downwardly to provide a cover flap overlying the opening of said first card receiving pocket.

3. A card holder as recited in claim 2 including a first transparent ply of flexible material secured to said upper front ply, overlying the window therein, and a second transparent ply of flexible material secured to said lower front ply, overlying the window therein.

4. A card holder as recited in claim 1 wherein said detachably securing means comprises a snap fastener.

5. A card holder as recited in claim 1 wherein the depending flap at the lower end of said base ply overlies the opening of said second card receiving opening.

6. A card holder as recited in claim 2 wherein said detachably securing means comprises a snap fastener.

7. A card holder as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for attaching said holder to the attire of the user comprises a safety pin fastener.

8. A card holder as recited in claim 2 wherein said cover flap is secured to the main body portion of said upper front ply to provide a transverse tunnel, and wherein said means for attaching said holder to the attire of the user comprises a safety pin fastener including a portion thereof passing through said tunnel.

9. A card holder as recited in claim 8 including a flexible ply of material connected to a portion of said safety pin fastener which may be stitched to the attire of the user to suspend said holder.

10. A card holder as recited in claim 2 wherein said detachably securing means comprises a snap fastener having a component thereof disposed on said lower front ply and a cooperating component thereof disposed on the inner side of the depending cover flap of said upper front ply.