Technical Field

The present invention is directed to a novel money fold holding banknotes and credit cards in a very space efficient way.

Technical Background

Traditionally, people use a wallet, or billfold, to carry personal items such as cash, credit cards, identification documents (driver's license, identification card, club card, etc), photographs, business cards and other paper or laminated cards. Wallets are generally made of leather or fabrics, and they are usually pocket-sized and foldable. However, a wallet usually has a complicated structure, and different parts of a wallet are often fixed together by stitching, gluing, thermal compression, and/or other processing. As a result, a conventional wallet is associated with higher manufacture cost. On the other hand, liners in a wallet are easily worn during usage, so the whole wallet may have to be replaced, which is a waste of resource. Moreover, a wallet would become bulky as its contents grow. When a bulky wallet loses its original flat and parallelepiped shape, it becomes inconvenient to be stored.

For the past few years or so, people sometimes use a money-clip as an alternative to the wallet. Money-clips are smaller to store in one's pocket, and found to be a good alternative. However, when using the money-clip, one had to remove the clip completely, before being able to access the banknotes or credit cards, which is somewhat inconvenient. Unlike a traditional wallet, a money-clip is usually made of hard materials such as metal, and its exterior hard parts are exposed to the outside. When the money-clip is stored in one's pocket together with a smart phone, it may scratch the screen of the phone. When the thickness of the contents held by a money-clip grows, the clip would become tighter and difficult to use. In addition, for its structure, a money-clip does not have a parallelepiped shape when holding banknotes or credit cards.

In the prior art there is no better space-saving alternative that had the flexibility of being able to adapt to the thickness of the contents it held, held the contents securely, while still looking neat and tidy. Accordingly, the inventors of the present invention created the present money fold which is so named because the product is wrapped around the banknotes or credit cards.

Summary of the Invention

One object of the present invention is to provide a money fold for storing banknotes or various cards, which is simple in design and overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional wallets or money-clips.

The present invention is directed to a novel money fold, which comprises a body consisting of a middle section, a first side section and a second side section, a fixing element and an elastic element, wherein said body is in the shape of a flat sheet having a first side and a second side, and said body has an opening; said fixing element is detachably attached to one end of the elastic element and is located at the opening at the inner one of the first side and second side of the body, allowing the elastic element to go through the opening; and said elastic element is in the form of a closed-loop such that when the first side section and the second side section of the body fold over the inner side of the middle section of the body, the elastic element can tie them together. By means of such a folding structure, when the thickness of contents hold by the money fold grows, it adapts well and maintains a parallelepiped shape which facilitates the convenient storage of the money fold. Additionally, when the money fold is in an assembled state, the fixing element is located at the inner side of the body, so the exterior of the money fold is totally free of hard materials. In addition, the first side and the second side of the body can be used interchangeably, and they optionally have different textures, patterns and/or colors, such that the appearance and style of the money fold can be changed easily by exchanging the first and second side. Preferably, said body is made up of a soft material, and said first side section, said second side section and said middle section are integrally formed. The money fold of the invention is simple in design and has no stitching in its construction. By way of example, the body of the money fold can be formed by die cutting or shearing. So the manufacture cost can be reduced.

Alternatively, the opening is in the center of the middle section of the body. In such a symmetric configuration, either the first side section or the second section can be on the top when folded over the middle section and act as the cover of the money fold. As an example, the first and second side sections can have different patterns or colors, so the user can change the appearance of the money fold according to his/her preference. In contrast, a conventional wallet or money-clip cannot change their appearances so conveniently.

Optionally, the opening has a shape of round-ends oblong. As such, the orientation of the elastic element can be kept roughly parallel to the long edge of the money fold, when the elastic element is released.

In addition, the middle section of the body is slightly larger than the size of a credit card or banknote, preferably is about 62 ± 3 mm in width and 87 ± 3 mm in height, and preferably the length of the elastic element is about 140 mm. A person skilled in the art will understand that the dimension of the money fold and length of the elastic element are not limited to the specific numeric values disclosed in the present application.

Further, the first side section and the second side section of the body have the same or different shape. The shapes of the first and second side sections include but not limited to rectangle, semi-circle, round-ends rectangle, triangle, polygon or other irregular shapes. With the first and second side sections having different shapes, a user of the money fold can customize the appearance or style of the money fold more freely.

Optionally, the fixing element is a metal element, wood element, or plastic element. For example, without limitation, the fixing element can be a plate, a bar, a cross and similar parts. A person skilled in the art will understand that a flat element that would not create lumps on the surface of the body of the money fold can be used as a fixing element.

Additionally, the fixing element has two opposite concaves in the middle to which the elastic element attaches, such as the one illustrated in Figure 2a. As such, the elastic element attaches to the fixing element in a detachable way, and it is fixed to the fixing element in the assembled state. In the other hand, when the elastic element is worn, it can be replaced independently of the body and the fixing element.

Further, said elastic element is a nylon-coated elastic band. Nylon coating on the elastic element can protect the elastic element from wear and thus lengthen its service life. Moreover, nylon coatings of different patterns or colors can be used to add more aesthetic elements to the money fold.

Optionally, the soft material is leather, fabrics, flexible plastics, or combination thereof. The selection of materials for the body of the money fold may depend on the manufacture cost and the design of the money fold.

More details and advantages of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the figures.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1 shows both sides of the body of a money fold according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, wherein the middle section, the first side section and the second side section of the body are rectangle with round corners.

Figure 2 shows both sides of a fixing element according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 illustrates an elastic element according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates a money fold according to one exemplary embodiment of the present application in both unfolded and folded state.

Detailed Description

In a exemplary embodiment, the money fold of the invention comprises a body consisting of a middle section, a first side section and a second side section, a fixing element and an elastic element, wherein said body is in the shape of a flat sheet having a first side and a second side, and said body has an opening; said fixing element is detachably attached to one end of the elastic element and is located at the opening at the inner one of the first side and second side of the body, allowing the elastic element to go through the opening; and said elastic element is in the form of a closed-loop such that when the first side section and the second side section of the body fold over the inner side of the middle section of the body, the elastic element can tie them together. The first side section, second side section and the middle section can be separate parts or can be integrally formed. One of the first and second sides can be the front side, and the other can be the inner side.

The body can be made up of a soft material, and the first side section, the second side section and the middle section can be integrally formed as a single piece. Such a one piece structure is simple and cost effective. Alternatively, the first and second sections and the middle section can be made of different materials and be connected together by gluing, thermal compression or other means conceivable by a person skilled in the art.

The opening in the body can be located in any position, preferably in the center (in width and/or in height) of the body, so as to tie the folded money fold in the middle place to avoid the elastic element easily sliding off the money fold. The opening can be in any shape, such as round or rectangle. Preferably, the opening has a shape of oblong, particularly round-ends oblong, so as to help to keep the elastic element roughly parallel to the long edge of the money fold, when the elastic band is released. This also prevents the elastic band from becoming tangled, therefore making it easy for the user to find the elastic element by hooking his/her finger around the back of the product and closing the product easily.

The body of the present money fold consists of a middle section, a first side section and a second side section. The first side section and the second side section can be connected to the middle section smoothly, or they can be connected with folding lines so facilitate their fold. The middle section preferably is in rectangular shape, slightly larger than the size of a credit card or banknote. Preferably the middle section is about 62 ± 3 mm in width and 87 ± 3 mm in height. The first side section and the second side section can have the same or different shape. In one embodiment, both the first side section and the second side section are rectangle and thus together with the middle section to form a rectangle, as illustrated in Figure 1. It also can be acknowledged by a person skilled in the art that the corners of the body can be round, to reduce the abrasion, wrinkles etc. In another embodiment, the first side section and the second side section have different shapes, for example and not in a limiting way, one is rectangle and the other is triangle, such that when folded over the middle section, the triangle one can be folded outmost and can be pulled out from the elastic element more easily.

Generally, the middle section of the body is slightly larger than the size of a credit card or banknote, preferably is about 62 ± 3 mm in width and 87 ± 3 mm in height.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the fixing plate of the present money fold is detachably attached to the elastic element. Preferably, the fixing plate has two opposite concaves in the middle to which the elastic element attaches, as illustrated in Figure 2. The opposite concaves of the fixing plate can be parallel to the long edge or the short edge of the money fold. A person skilled in the art can also easily understand that the fixing plate can also detachably attach to the body. The fixing plate can be made up with any suitable material, as long as it can hold part of the elastic element inside the money fold. Preferably the fixing plate is a metal piece, such as stainless iron or brass. Alternatively, the fixing plate can be integrally formed with the elastic element.

The elastic element can be made of any elastic material, such as various kinds of elastomers for example rubber, and optionally with coatings such as nylon. The elastic element has suitable length, so to tie the folded money fold suitably, i.e. neither too loose nor too tight. Preferably, the elastic element is a closed-loop with 100 mm or 140 mm in length. The elastic element can also have a suitable diameter, such as in the range of about 1 mm to 3 mm. The cross section of the elastic element can be a circle or rectangle. In one embodiment, said elastic element is a nylon-coated elastic band.

The contents of the money fold are secured with the elastic element that runs parallel to the edge of the money fold when the product is closed. The elastic element is secured by a buckle mechanism on the inside of the product. The elastic element is user-replaceable when its elasticity is degraded. The buckle-mechanism that secures the elastic element onto the product is kept on the inside of the money fold, leaving the exterior of the money fold totally free of hard materials that could potentially scratch a screen of a smart phone, if one choose to store his/her phone together with money fold in the same pocket.

The thickness of the money fold can automatically expand or reduce depending on the volume of the bank notes and credit cards stored. At the same time, as the thickness grows, the money fold would not lose its parallelepiped shape, so it will be kept aesthetic and easy to be stored.

Although various features and elements of the invention have been described in the description and illustrated in the figures, but the scope of the invention is not limited to the embodiments above described, and various modifications to the invention can be made by a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.