Christmas ornament hanger/holder

Christmas ornament hanger/holder
RE38938

A holderspan> for storing Christmas ornaments which has a container with at least one removable side to access the insidespan> of the container and hooks to hold a hangerspan> on which the Christmas ornaments can be placed.

PTO Wrapper PDF
Dossier Espace Google

Patent RE38938
Priority Feb 04 1999
Filed Nov 21 2001
Issued Jan 24 2006
Expiry Feb 04 2019
Inventors Stoner, Je…
Assg.orig
Assg.curr
Entity Small
Referenced by 0
References 16
Maint.: all paid

BACKGROUND OF THE IN…
DESCRIPTION OF THE P…

0. 4. An ornamentspan> holderspan>, comprising:

a container having an opening and insidespan> walls;

a closure releasably openable relative to the container, the closure adapted to enclose the opening;

a hangerspan> supportspan> disposed insidespan> the container; and

a hangerspan> removably mountablespan> relative to the hangerspan> supportspan> to provide an open region between the hangerspan> and at least one of the insidespan> walls of the container,

the hangerspan> being configured to be mountablespan> onto and removable from the hangerspan> supportspan>, the hangerspan> adapted to hold an ornamentspan>, the hangerspan> having at least one retainer disposed along the hangerspan> intermediate ends of the hangerspan> for limiting sliding displacement of the ornamentspan> along the hangerspan>,

wherein the hangerspan> comprises a supportspan> bar and the at least one retainer includes a plurality of ridges spaced therealong.

0. 19. An ornamentspan> holderspan>, comprising:

A. a container having an opening and insidespan> walls;

B. a closure adapted for covering the opening;

C. a supportspan> bar removably mountablespan> insidespan> the container for enabling ornaments to be removably hung on the supportspan> bar; and

D. a plurality of retainers spaced along the supportspan> bar, said retainers extending outwardly from the supportspan> bar to limit sliding displacement of ornaments along the supportspan> bar and to maintain a distribution of the ornaments along the length of the supportspan> bar,

wherein the retainers comprise a series of ridges extending outwardly from the supportspan> bar and forming a plurality of shortenedspan> spans on the supportspan> bar between the ridges, said spans being adapted to supportspan> the ornaments, and said ridges being adapted to limit sliding displacement of the ornaments on the spans.

1. A container for storing Christmas ornaments, said container comprising:

a box having a top, sides, back, bottom and an open front,

a front portion hinged to said bottom,

said front portion being movable from a firstspan> positionspan> in which said front portion closes said open front of said box to a secondspan> positionspan> in which said front portion uncovers said open front of said box,

means for holding said front portion in said firstspan> positionspan>,

said top of said box having an insidespan> surface and an outside surface,

supportspan> means for holding a hangerspan> mounted on said insidespan> surface of said top of sail said box, and

a hangerspan> means for holding Christmas ornaments detachably secured to said supportspan> means,

said hangerspan> means having means for engaging said supportspan> means for securing said hangerspan> means on said supportspan> means,

said hangerspan> means having a top portion and a bottom portion,

said bottom portion having a plurality of ridges space spaced therealong.

2. The container for storing Christmas ornaments as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supportspan> means is at least one hook.

3. The container for storing Christmas ornaments as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bottom portion also has a plurality of upstanding projections extending therefrom for attaching looped ornamentspan> hangers.

0. 5. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the closure is hingeably mounted to the container.

0. 6. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the closure is pivotally connected to the container.

0. 7. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, comprising a fastener to fasten the closure to the container.

0. 8. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 7, wherein the fastener is mounted externally to the container.

0. 9. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the ridges are adapted to retain an ornamentspan> to prevent the ornamentspan> from sliding along the bar.

0. 10. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the hangerspan> comprises a plurality of fingers spaced therealong.

0. 11. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 10, wherein the fingers are adapted to retain an ornamentspan> so as to enable the ornamentspan> to hang from the fingers.

0. 12. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the hangerspan> supportspan> comprises a hook.

0. 13. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4 wherein the hangerspan> is mountablespan> on the hangerspan> supportspan> to provide the open region between the hangerspan> and the insidespan> wall of the container opposite the opening.

0. 14. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4 wherein the container includes a front and a rear and wherein the opening is provided on the front generally opposite the rear of the container to define a depth therebetween.

0. 15. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 14 wherein the hangerspan> comprises a rod for holding an ornamentspan>, the rod having a thickness less than the depth of the container.

0. 16. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 15 wherein the hangerspan> is mountablespan> on the hangerspan> supportspan> to provide the open region between the hangerspan> and the rear of the container.

0. 17. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4, wherein the closure is mounted relative to the container and wherein the closure is moveable from a firstspan> positionspan> in which the closure covers the opening of the container to a secondspan> positionspan> which provides access insidespan> of the container.

0. 18. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 4 wherein the hangerspan> is configured to be slidably mountablespan> onto the hangerspan> supportspan>.

0. 20. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, wherein the closure is hingeably mounted to the container.

0. 21. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, wherein the closure is pivotally connected to the container.

0. 22. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 21, wherein the closure is movable between a firstspan> positionspan>, in which the closure covers the opening of the container, and a secondspan> positionspan>, in which the opening is exposed to provide access insidespan> of the container.

0. 23. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, comprising a releasable fastener to fasten the closure to the container.

0. 24. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, comprising a hangerspan> supportspan> mounted on at least one of the insidespan> walls of the container, said hangerspan> supportspan> comprising two or more supportspan> mounts for removably supporting the supportspan> bar insidespan> the container.

0. 25. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 24, wherein the supportspan> mounts comprise a pair of hooks connected to at least one of the insidespan> walls in the container.

0. 26. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 24, wherein the supportspan> mounts are centrally located on one of the insidespan> walls to supportspan> the supportspan> bar in a positionspan> spaced away from the other insidespan> walls and the opening.

0. 27. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, wherein the retainers comprise a series of fingers extending outwardly and generally perpendicularly from the supportspan> bar.

0. 28. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19 comprising a handle on the exterior of the container.

0. 29. The ornamentspan> holderspan> of claim 19, comprising a hangerspan> supportspan> disposed on the insidespan> walls of the container and wherein the supportspan> bar is configured to be slidably mountablespan> on the hangerspan> supportspan>.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates, in general, to a container, and, in particular, to a container for hanging and holding Christmas ornaments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In the prior art various types of holders have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,971 to Fisher discloses a display box with a transparent structure for holding and displaying jewelry.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,985 to Shih discloses a box a perspectiveOr On an inside surface of the top 2 is are fastened a plurality of hooks 12 which will hold the hanger shown in FIG. 2. It should be noted that although only two hooks 12 are shown, any number of hooks can be attached to the top without departing from the scope of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, a hanger 15 which will be used to securely fasten the items, such as Christmas ornaments, within the containers. The hanger has a closed loop 14 which will slide onto the hooks 12 which will support the hangers 15 within the container. The hanger 15 has a series of ridges or corrugations 16 which will provide a place to place the hooks, that are normally attached to Christmas ornaments. By providing these ridges or corrugations 16 on the hanger, the ornaments can be easily and quickly hooked onto the hanger between the ridges or corrugations16 which will securely hold the ornaments during storage and prevent the ornaments from sliding along the hanger and becoming tangled or dislodged and lost. In this way the hooks attached to the Christmas ornaments will not become lost or tangled during storage. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of fingers or projections 17 which will be placed along the lower portion of the hanger, and can be used to hold ornaments which have “looped” hangers. This will, therefore, provide a convenient storage container for Christmas ornaments and will make the job of placing ornaments on a tree and removing them from the tree and placing them in storage an easier task.

Also, it should be noted that other indicia could be placed on the container such as “Fragile” or decorative holiday printing to indicate the contents of the container. This would aid in retrieving the proper container from storage.

Although the Christmas Ornament Hanger/Holder and the method of using the same according to the present invention has been described in the foregoing specification with considerable details, it is to be understood that modifications may be made to the invention which do not exceed the scope of the appended claims and modified forms of the present invention done by others skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be considered infringements of this invention when those modified forms fall within the claimed scope of this invention.

INVENTORS:

Stoner, Jeffrey R., Stoner, Carol E.

THIS PATENT IS REFERENCED BY THESE PATENTS:

Patent

Priority

Assignee

Title

THIS PATENT REFERENCES THESE PATENTS:

Patent	Priority	Assignee	Title
1958230,
2054764,
2097043,
3955675,	Apr 16 1975	NORTH AMERICAN PHILIPS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CORP	One-piece internal support for a cathode ray tube multipack container
4202451,	Mar 22 1976	BERKOWITZ STEVE,	Hanger for hanging fabric
4693369,	Jul 06 1984		Clothes hanging system and theft-proof shipping system
4995516,	Nov 13 1989		Clothes hanger structure
5094020,	Mar 26 1990		Steam closet and hanger for the removal of wrinkles from clothing
5117971,	May 17 1991		Jewelry display box
5168985,	Mar 12 1991		Jewel box
5511873,	Sep 09 1994		Cabinet for the storage and display of jewelry
5628398,	Jun 30 1995		Anthropomorphic travel system
5642841,	Jul 01 1996		Apparatus and method for hanging a plurality of both belts and ties
5653339,	Jul 19 1995		Storage receptacle for Christmas lights and accessories
5762184,	Jun 14 1996	FOR YOUR EASE ONLY, INC	Jewelry holder with at least one movable stand
5884784,	May 20 1997		Laboratory drying rack system and a dispenser unit therefor

ASSIGNMENT RECORDS Assignment records on the USPTO

Executed on

Assignor

Assignee

Conveyance

Frame

Reel

Doc

MAINTENANCE FEES AND DATES: Maintenance records on the USPTO

Date	Maintenance Fee Events
Apr 11 2005	ASPN: Payor Number Assigned.
May 15 2007	M2552: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 8th Yr, Small Entity.
May 04 2011	M2553: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 12th Yr, Small Entity.

Date	Maintenance Schedule
Jan 24 2009	4 years fee payment window open
Jul 24 2009	6 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 24 2010	patent expiry (for year 4)
Jan 24 2012	2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4)
Jan 24 2013	8 years fee payment window open
Jul 24 2013	6 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 24 2014	patent expiry (for year 8)
Jan 24 2016	2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8)
Jan 24 2017	12 years fee payment window open
Jul 24 2017	6 months grace period start (w surcharge)
Jan 24 2018	patent expiry (for year 12)
Jan 24 2020	2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12)