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US 9,024,718 B1Granted
Key holder
OwnerDorothy Museinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A key holder for house and car keys has a wall around a circular periphery and a rear chamber. The housing has upper chamber with a cover and an aperture at the front. A door encloses a lower chamber containing tools. A carousel, rotatably mounted within the upper chamber, has an annular ring to receive the mounting holes of the house keys in angular spaced relation around the perimeter. The carousel stores the keys with the distal ends extending radially inward. The carousel allows selective pivotal deployment of the keys with the distal end extending radially outward through the aperture. An electric motor, a solenoid, and a controller with a voice recognition circuit rotate the carousel to deploy the keys. The rear chamber receives the car key, fob, and electronics. A handle, a belt clip, and flashlight are attached to the housing.
Claims22
A key holder for use in connection with a plurality of keys, each key defined having a proximal end located at a first elongated end and a distal end located at an opposite elongated end, each key comprising a mounting hole located proximate the proximal end thereof, the key holder comprising:
- a housing, the housing comprising:
- a circular floor having a central location thereon, the floor being bound by a floor periphery,
- a housing wall extending perpendularly from the floor periphery at a location between an upper edge of the housing wall and a lower edge of the housing wall forming a main chamber above the floor, and
- a wall aperture formed through the housing wall, the wall aperture extending between the floor periphery and the housing wall upper edge;
- a cover enclosing the main chamber and having a cover periphery extending around the wall upper edge, the cover having a central location thereon and a cover aperture formed therethrough, the cover aperture extending radially outward from adjacent to the central location of the cover to the cover periphery and aligned in open communication with the wall aperture;
- a carousel for moving the plurality of keys within and around the main chamber of the housing and relative to the cover and the housing, the carousel comprising:
- a central hub rotatably mounted within the main chamber between the respective central locations on the cover and the housing floor so as to enable rotation of the carousel, relative to the cover and the housing, about an axis extending substantially perpendicular to the cover and the housing floor,
- an annular ring disposed adjacent to, extending circumferentially along and between the floor periphery and the cover periphery, and extending through the mounting holes in the proximal ends of the keys so as to retain the keys in respective longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientations on the housing floor, and
- a plurality of spokes extending radially outward from the central hub and disposed between and coupled with the central hub and the annular ring,
- wherein together the central hub, the annular ring and the spokes adapt the carousel to store and mount the keys in the respective longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientations with the proximal ends of the keys being mounted on the annular ring and the distal ends of the keys extending away from the annular ring towards the central hub and with the keys radially disposed relative to the central hub and between, and in an angular spaced relationship about, the floor periphery and the cover periphery, and
- wherein together the central hub, the annular ring and the spokes further adapt the carousel to be rotated, relative to the cover and the housing, about the rotation axis to move the keys into selective placement of each of the keys in alignment with the cover aperture and the housing wall aperture and thereby allow selective pivotal deployment of the each of the keys, while being retained in the longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientation, about and relative to the annular ring, being entirely disposed within the main chamber of the housing, and through the cover aperture and the housing wall aperture to a deployed position with the distal end of the deployed key extending radially outward through the housing wall aperture and with the proximal end of the deployed key remaining mounted on the annular ring of the carousel still entirely disposed within the main chamber of the housing;
- a rotational control member for selectively rotating the carousel so as to align the each of the keys with the cover aperture, and thereby with the wall aperture, for deployment;
- and
- at least one deployment mechanism, wherein the deployment mechanism aids in selectively deploying the each of the keys.
11 more elements
A key holder for use in connection with a plurality of keys, one of the keys being a car key including a remote keyless-entry key fob, each key defined having a proximal end located at a first elongated end and a distal end located at an opposite elongated end, each key comprising a mounting hole located proximate the proximal end thereof, the key holder comprising:
- a housing, the housing comprising:
- a circular floor having a central location thereon, the floor being bound by a floor periphery,
- a housing wall extending perpendularly from the floor periphery at a location between an upper edge of the housing wall and a lower edge of the housing wall forming a main chamber above the floor,
- a wall aperture formed through the housing wall, the wall aperture extending between the floor periphery and the housing wall upper edge,
- a rear chamber projecting outward from the rear portion of the housing,
- a car key aperture formed through the housing wall at the rear chamber, the car key aperture being adapted to receive the car key,
- a key fob aperture extending through a wall of the rear chamber, the key fob aperture being adapted to receive the key fob;
- a cover enclosing the main chamber and having a cover periphery extending around the wall upper edge, the cover having a central location thereon and a cover aperture formed therethrough, the cover aperture extending radially outward from adjacent to the central location of the cover to the cover periphery, terminating at a location adjacent to the housing front and aligned in open communication with the wall aperture;
- a cover door operatively attached to the cover at a location to close and close the cover aperture;
- a carousel for moving the plurality of keys within and around the main chamber of the housing and relative to the cover and the housing, the carousel comprising:
- a central hub rotatably mounted within the main chamber between the respective central locations on the cover and the housing floor so as to enable rotation of the carousel, relative to the cover and the housing, about an axis extending substantially perpendicular to the cover and the housing floor,
- an annular ring disposed adjacent to, extending circumferentially along and between the floor periphery and the cover periphery, and extending through the mounting holes in the proximal ends of the keys so as to retain the keys in respective longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientations on the housing floor, and
- a plurality of spokes extending radially outward from the central hub and disposed between and coupled with the central hub and the annular ring,
- wherein together the central hub, the annular ring and the spokes adapt the carousel to store and mount the keys in the longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientations with the proximal ends of the keys being mounted on the annular ring and the distal ends of the keys extending away from the annular ring towards the central hub and with the keys radially disposed relative to the central hub and between, and in an angular spaced relationship about, the floor periphery and the cover periphery, and
- wherein together the central hub, the annular ring and the spokes further adapt the carousel to be rotated, relative to the cover and the housing, about the rotation axis to move the keys into selective placement of each of the keys in alignment with the cover aperture and the housing wall aperture and thereby allow selective pivotal deployment of the each of the keys, while retained in the longitudinal edgewise upstanding orientation, about and relative to the annular ring, being entirely disposed within the main chamber of the housing, and through the cover aperture and the housing wall aperture to a deployed position with the distal end of the deployed key extending radially outward through the housing wall aperture and with the proximal end of the deployed key remaining mounted on the annular ring of the carousel still entirely disposed within the main chamber of the housing;
- a rotational control member for selectively rotating the carousel so as to align the each of the keys with the cover aperture, and thereby with the wall aperture, for deployment;
- and
- at least one deployment mechanism, wherein the deployment mechanism aids in selectively deploying the each of the keys.
15 more elements
A key holder for use in connection with a plurality of house keys and at least one car key including a remote keyless-entry key fob, each key defined having a proximal end located at a first elongated end and a distal end located at an opposite elongated end, each key comprising a mounting hole located proximate the proximal end thereof, the key holder comprising:
- a housing, the housing comprising:
- a circular floor bound by a floor periphery,
- a housing wall extending perpendularly from the floor periphery at a location between an upper edge of the housing wall and a lower edge of the housing wall forming an upper chamber above the floor and a lower chamber below the floor,
- a wall aperture formed through the housing wall, the wall aperture extending between the floor and the housing wall upper edge,
- a rear chamber projecting outward from the rear portion of the housing,
- a car key aperture formed through the housing wall, the car key aperture being adapted to receive the car key,
- a key fob aperture extending through a wall of the rear chamber, the key fob aperture being adapted to receive the key fob;
- a cover enclosing the upper chamber and extending around the wall upper edge, the cover having a cover aperture formed therethrough, the cover aperture extending radially outward terminating at a location adjacent to the housing front,
- a cover door operatively attached to the cover at a location to close the cover aperture;
- a lower door enclosing the lower chamber and extending around the wall lower edge, the lower door being operatively attached to the housing for operatively movement between a closed position for closure of the lower chamber and an open position for access to the lower chamber;
- a carousel rotatably mounted within the upper chamber and enabling rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the circular floor therein, the carousel being adapted to store the keys in a storage position and adapted to allow selective deployment of the each of the keys to a deployed position with the distal end extending radially outward through the wall aperture;
- a plurality of key attachment members for mounting each of the keys in angular spaced relation around the carousel perimeter;
- a rotational control member for selectively rotating the carousel so as to align the each of the house keys with the cover aperture for deployment;
- at least one deployment mechanism for selectively deploying the each of the house keys;
- an electronic controller connected to the rotational control member and the deployment mechanism, the controller having at least one input button for manually inputting commands to the controller, the controller having a microphone and a voice recognition circuit responsive to voice commands, the controller having a garage door opener circuit;
- and
- at least one battery for powering the controller, the rotational control member, and the deployment mechanism.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.