BACKGROUND: THE FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention is in the field of desk-area clamps for holding objects in a viewing position . It is in the special field of holders for attaching paper notes to a CRT computer monitor for easy viewing.

BACKGROUND

Many office workers spend a considerable amount of time using small paper notes, messages, memos etc. There is often a tendency for numerous of these notes to be present simultaneously and create desktop clutter and disorganization for the office worker. Millions of office personnel use computer monitors of the cathode ray tube (CRT) type at their workstations.

Heretofore, no one has utilized the elongate flat unused areas on the vertical sides and topside of a computer monitor with a correspondingly elongate flat surface mounted note holder with low profile lines and able to releasably hold and display a plurality of small paper notes adjacent to each other so that the user can individually manipulate one note without disturbing other notes adjacently held.

There are a number of copy holding devices for use on computer monitors. Most of these types are of the nature of an arm or planar structure protruding far from the perimeter from the monitor to form a rigid platform or structure to

brace the paper and also to clamp the paper with a clamping device such as a spring clip or a gravity activated roller.

Such devices are commonly used for holding standard 8V x

11" office paper.

But such prior art are not useful for holding a multiplicity of smaller paper notes for simultaneous visual display. For example, releasing the spring clip will release all the notes instead of just one. Gravity activated rollers are similarly cumbersome when trying to individually segregate and manipulate one of a number of small notes.

There are also a number of prior art elongate resilient note holders with some similarity to the present invention. All are lacking two important features of the present invention. They are all designed to be attached to a larger stabilizing object by an attachment at the paper holder's exterior surface on the backside of the holder which is a surface parallel to the plane at which the paper is held. This mounting surface is the outside of the rear wall of the holder which is substantially parallel to the gripping or clamping wall. As a bad result, these devices are not practical for use on the topside or vertical side of a computer monitor because they cause the paper to be disposed edgewise to the viewer.

A second disadvantage is that they have only one groove for receiving paper. Thus, after the length of the single groove is filled, additional notes can only be held by bunching them invisibly behind other notes, such other notes are often unrelated. It would be much better to have

another groove along the length of the channel to individually hold and manipulate the notes.

U.S. Patent 4,010,517 to Odd B. Kapstad, issued March 8, 1977, represents an elongate, rigid channel with a leaf spring which cooperates with a shoulder on one wall member to anchor the sheet in the cavity. This design, like all other prior art elongate resilient holders, only has a single groove to hold paper.

U.S. Patent 4,629,075 to James E. Hutten issued December 16, 1986 and U.S. Patent 4,773,545 by Graham R. Jones issued September 27, 1988 have resilient members with similar geometry to Kapstad's leaf spring design, that is, they form only one groove for the insertion of paper.

U.S. Patent 5,251,766 to James A Barry issued October 12, 1993, shows an elongate sheet material holder with a costly brush strip instead of a sheet-like resilient member as used by the above Kapstad, Hutten, and Jones.

In all of the above designs the symmetrical, elongate, rigid component of the holder must be made by extrusion. All these designs are prevented from using the more economical injection molding for the holding of their rigid part because of an overhang needed to hold the resilient member. Such overhangs prevent the part from being pulled off of a mold .

Extrusion creates tiny streaks, but the biggest negative factors are the undesirable, unsightly, ragged, jagged, and sharp points of the ends of the holder where cutting of the long extrusion has been done. Considering that note holders are used in close quarters in a desk-area,

the sharp points of extruded holders have been known to cut a person's skin.

The ragged ends can be filed smoother but this requires considerable cost in labor and the result is never as smooth or refined as a smoothly rounded injected molded end. The cost of the holder is less with injection molding and is greater when extrusion is used.

All of the above resilient designs anchor the resilient member from a wall parallel to the bearing wall where the paper note is clamped by the resilient member. Kapstad, Hutten, Jones, and Barry all mount to an exterior surface at an angle that is substantially parallel and not at a 90 degree angle to the paper being held.

The problem of anchoring a presser is simplified when adhesive means can used as compared with the extruding of "back-bends" or hooks in the holder to hold the longitudinal edges of a non-tubular elongate presser.

Also, a non-tubular presser must be made with hooks on it, as seen in end view, so as to hook into the hooks of an extruded holder so as to hold the presser in place.

An injection molded holder cannot be made with hooks or "back-bends" for holding edges of a non-tubular presser because the injection molded die cannot be removed.

Hence, a tubular presser and an injection molded holder are the ideal combination for low cost.

In the 1933 U.S. Patent 1,894,974 to F.W. Bleckley, titled: SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR KNIVES AND THE LIKE, a tubular presser of rubber is existent in the prior art, but not in the field of desk-top area clamps, not on CRT computer monitors, and only in a knife-holder for kitchen use.

In patent 1,894,974, the knife handles have a thickness forcing the presser holder to be box-like and quite thick bringing in a distracting difference from the needs answered by the invention hereof.

In patent 1,894,974, the tubular presser and its retainer would obscure writing or graphics on holdable objects behind the tubular presser and its retainer.

In patent 1,894,974, the tubular retainer surrounds 180 degrees of the circumference of the tube thus limiting insertion of holdable objects to one row or groove.

The presser in 1,894,974, is described in its page 2 , column 1, lines 1 to 7, as being removable from the holder by sliding the presser out of the holder. There is no permanent attachment of the presser to the holder.

The 1952 U.S. Patent 2,603,357 to E. Zakos , titled: SUPPORTING DEVICE, shows a structure for holding a book. It has leaf springs of steel fixed at each of a pair of holder walls in positions limiting insertion of holdable objects to a single planar position between the two leaf springs. This also obscures writing or graphics near the edge of paper between the springs. Its bulk and its design for use only on a tabletop would prevent its use on a CRT monitor.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

Accordingly, several of the objects and advantages of our sheet material holder are:

(a) to provide an elongate note holder that mounts to the flat unused surfaces on the vertical side and/or top side of a CRT computer monitor.

(b) to provide a note holder low in profile and that matches the contour of a CRT computer monitor and does not protrude excessively beyond the side perimeter.

(c) to provide a note holder that easily and conveniently holds one or more paper notes, me os, or cards in a vertical plane. They are quickly and easily inserted and securely held for display and reference for the user, and then easily removed when the use is completed without disturbing notes adjacently held.

(d) to provide a note holder in which the resilient presser is attached to the base wall which is substantially perpindicular to the open groove where the note is held.

(e) to provide a note holder with one or more arched resilient pressers across the elongate open side of the holder. This creates a multiplicity of holding grooves and thus multiplies the number of individual small paper notes that can be individually segregated and manipulated without disturbing adjacent notes or requiring bunching together a multiplicity of unrelated notes after the length of the first groove has been filled.

(f) to provide a note holder that is made of transparent plastic so that writing text disposed in the front groove on the edge region of a note can be clearly discernable for reading.

(g) to provide a note holder that is inexpensive to manufacture and is affordable to the public. Because of the simplicity of the design, this invention can be manufactured with minimal manufacturing steps. All or most of the invention can be made of plastic that is readily available.

Material and labor costs will be low per unit thus enabling this note holder to be very affordable to the public.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

DRAWING FIGURES

Fig 1 shows a frontal perspective view of this invention holding paper notes and mounted to the top and vertical sides a CRT computer monitor.

Fig 2 shows a frontal elevation of this invention as mounted to the top and vertical side of a CRT computer monitor.

Fig 3 shows the top of a corner of the front of a computer monitor housing with a top wall portion removed, showing, in cross-section, a rectangular cavity to hold a tubular presser.

Fig 4 shows an end-view of a preferred embodiment with two tubular pressers, this view is of a type freely attachable to any stabilizing surface.

Fig 5 shows a perspective view of the elongate two-sided adhesive film tape used.

Fig 6 shows an end-view of an alternate embodiment of the multiple groove design constructed with a non-tubular presser and configured for wall mounting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In Figure 4, the clamp 6 has an elongate, rigid holder 10 which encases two elongate pressers 11. Each presser 11 convex elongate surface or bend 13 at an elongate open side 14 of a notch 16 in the holder 10.

Each outer side 18 of each presser 11 forms a groove 20 as it bears against the inner side of a respective one of two clamping walls 24. In the preferred embodiment of Figure 4, the pressers 11 are tubular.

Fig 3 shows a single presser 31 used to span the width of a U-shaped holder 40. Fig 4 shows two pressers 11 used to span the width of holder 10. By using two pressers, a double arch is created across the width of the elongate open side of holder 10 and a 3rd groove 42 for paper holding is created between the pressers 11 as the pressers 11 press against each other- The width of this middle or 3rd groove 42 is twice the width of the grooves 12 created by the presser 11 against the inside clamping wall 24.

In Figure 4, holder 10 has somewhat the end-view shape of the letter U, with two substantially parallel clamping walls 16 connected at right angles to a base wall 14.

Presser 11 is attached to holder 10 at a cradle 44 on the inside of base wall 14. A cradle 44 has a complementary curvature to presser 11 which provides a contact surface for affixing presser 11 to holder 10 by means of double-sided adhesive film tape 48 or glue, the tape maintains the curvature of presser 11 as seen in Figure 5. Double-sided adhesive film tape 48 is the preferred adhesive medium.

Presser 11 is preferably constructed of polyester film. The polyester tubes are pre-formed and are spirally made with overlapping spiral winding. The tubular pressers 11 preferably have a wall thickness of about 3.5 - 4/1000's of an inch. Tubes cannot be extruded with this small of a wall thickness. Thicker walled extruded tubes can work but are not as flexible and therefore are not as desirable as the spiral wrapped tubes. Spirally constructed polyester film tubes are best suited for achieving the objectives of this invention: ideal pressure, not too much, not too little.

The spirally constructed tubes typically have have an end-view shape that is circular prior to assembly to clamp 6. The diameter of the pressers 11 is greater than the distance between the inside of the clamping walls 24 for the embodiment with one presser 31 as in Figure 3, or half the distance between the clamping walls 16 for the embodiments with two pressers 11.

The relative dimensions between the diameter of the presser 31 or pressers 11 and the distance between the clamping walls causes the tubes, when assembled inside the holder 10, to assume a flattened shape against the innerside of the clamping walls 24 or one presser 11 against another presser 11. Thus, the end view of each presser 11 shows the former circle assuming two flattened sides with a resultant shape somewhat oval. The flattened section of the presser 11 against the inside clamping wall 16 or another presser 11 increases the ability of the clamp to firmly hold a relatively thinner, ordinary, single sheet of office paper next in line to thicker card stock, or to stacked sheets of

papers, with a thin circular presser 11 then that presser

11 would be displaced or disturbed inward toward its axis to an extent such that the relatively thinner paper cannot be sufficiently clamped and held.

Fig 6 shows an alternate clamp embodiment 50 having a presser 51 which is non-tubular and has hooks 56 which are interlocked with other hooks 58 on a holder 60 to resiliently hold the presser 51 to the holder 60 without the necessity of adhesives.

In Figure 4, the attaching of a holder 10 to the outerside of a wall 62 of a CRT computer monitor 64 is done by attaching to the outside of the base wall 14. Base wall 14 is substantially at a right angle to the plane in which notes are held. The preferred medium 66 for attachment is two-sided adhesive foam tape, having adhesive on both sides.

Holder 10 is typically made of transparent plastic by by injection molding.

The word "presser" is defined in this invention as a very thin sheet of smooth, elastic, flexible plastic film. Other types of plastic film can work although they all have one or more inferior qualities. Other thickness gauges can also work, but if they are much thinner than said preferred thickness range then this weakens clamping ability and much thicker, this creates too much rigidity and resistance to insertion of a paper note sheet. Polyester film's physical properties of strength, flexibility, and creep make it superior to all other types of film material in this application.

The properties of the film material are such that it is flexible, elastic, and transparent. Flexibility is important so that it will easily bend when contacted by the force of an edge of paper. If the film material is not flexible enough, the edge of paper may bend and be damaged and fail to enter the holder. Elasticity is also important in creating the clamping spring force to sandwich the note sheet between the presser 11 and the inside of a clamping wall 24 or another presser 11.

OPERATION

The user mounts the outside of base wall with two sided adhesive foam tape or other suitable medium such as a hook and loop fastener to the vertical or topside of a CRT computer monitor. With further development, the surface of the vertical side or top side of the CRT computer monitor can become he base wall with cradle thus making the clamp an integral part thereof. The CRT monitor housing can be configured with a cavity to receive the base wall as an integral without adhesive means.

With the preferred embodiments, two or three grooves are available for note holding along the length of the note holder. If the front groove is full of notes, the user has one or two additional grooves to hold and individually manipulate the notes without having to bunch unrelated notes together. This is a substantial time and organizational savings over other note holders.

Holder is dimensionally configured to hold presser

with some tension and flattening of the sides of the surfaces that touch the inside clamping wall or another presser.

CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE OF INVENTION

CRT computer monitors are ubiquitous in the work place and also at home. Small paper notes are often used at the workstation in conjunction with computers or in addition to them. Messages, nemos , business cards, index cards, computer program prompter notes and others are part of the plethora of paper notes that can easily clutter an already crowded desk top or workstation. Heretofore, no one has designed an elongate note holder for the flat surfaces on the topside and lateral side of a computer monitor.

There are also suitable flat surfaces around the monitor where a note holder could be mounted on the outside clamping wall but this location would not be aesthetically pleasing.

Office workers will use the present invention mounted on a wall or other flat surface and even a tabletop by mounting on the outside clamping wall 16 with two sided foam tape, hook and loop fasteners or a magnetic strip. They will also use the two presser embodiment freestanding on a tabletop without mounting because it becomes a portable note holder that has a stable base because the base wall 14 is wide relative to the height of the clamping wall.

Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the

scope of the invention but merely as providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.