US 5,970,777 A · Method of making a money clip

Abstract

A money clip having greater resilience without yielding by using a thin, stiff material. The clip may have a base and a lever, the lever being connected to the base by a spring, subject to bending deflection in use. The clip provides a reverse bend, or knee between the principal bend at the back of the clip, and a lip at the front of the clip. A long tongue extends as part of a base, extending out from the front of the clip where the lip contacts the tongue along a contact line. Near the back of the clip, the spring is formed as a loop having a diameter greater than the throat formed by the lever and base at their greatest distance from one another. The throat provides greater leverage on money held in the clip than does the lip, but both provide significant force to secure money without yielding the spring or lever, and without allowing the money to turn, twist, or slide. A single bill, or fifty bills may be inserted into the clip with a totally elastic response by the clip.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method for forming a clip, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a continuous blank formed of a resilient material having a width selected to provide a bearing width for the clip sufficient to secure an object;
forming a lip proximate a first end of the blank;
forming a knee, spaced from the lip and curving in the same direction as the lip, by yielding locally the resilient material of the knee;
forming a spring in the blank to extend about a substantially constant spring radius tangentially to a base portion of the clip, by repeatedly yielding the resilient material locally about a mandrel radius substantially smaller than the spring radius, the spring having a sense opposite that of the lip, and being positioned intermediate the lip and a second end of the blank.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method of making a money clip

Life of this patent

Method of making a money clip

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16