2. Description of the Background Art Several specific container designs are known for use in storing, transporting and/or displaying spark plugs, of the type used in internal combustion engines. Many of these known storage containers are intended for holding multiple spark plugs in a single container.

One known spark plug shipping and storage container, which is commonly in use today, consists of a disposable rectangular box made of card stock. This box may be entirely opaque, or alternatively, may be open at a front surface thereof to display the contents therein. Where the known container has an open area therein, a thin, transparent sheet of plastic is often used to cover the open front portion of the container, to allow a user to view the contents thereof, while protecting the spark plug from dust. A linear sequence of spark plugs, each individually boxed in this type of known container, may be placed in a larger box for retail sale.

Some other containers for holding and/or displaying spark plugs are known. For example,

Class 206, subclass 327 is provided in the U. S. Patent Classification System for the classification "special receptacle or package-container for a space-jumping spark device".

Examples of some of the known container devices for holding, shipping and/or displaying one or more spark plugs include U. S. design patent D-290,584, as well as U. S. utility patent numbers 3,771,646,4,896,766,5,577,606 and 5,829,587.

Although the known spark plug containers are useful for their intended purposes, a need still exists in the art for an improved spark plug display container for housing an individual spark plug, in which the container is useful to protect and store an individual spark plug, and also serves to display the spark plug in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Ina first embodiment, the present invention provides a set of two protective end caps to protect, and to help organize, a spark plug among other, similar spark plugs in storage and transport thereof. A set of end caps in accordance with this first embodiment includes a first end cap for placement in covering relation over a spark plug terminal post, and a second end cap for placement in covering relation over a ground end of a spark plug.

The first end cap has a body with a hollow socket formed therein to receive a terminal post. The second end cap includes a support base with a basket attached to and extending upwardly from the support base. The basket includes an inwardly facing plug-contacting surface for abutting contact with a cylindrical spark plug base, whereby the basket operates to define a hollow space. therein. The basket may include a plurality of upwardly extending fingers attached to an annular band. Alternatively, instead of the plurality of fingers, the basket may include a pair of opposed upwardly extending fork members, each of the fork members including a

substantially C-shaped plug reinforcement at the top end thereof.

In a second embodiment, the present invention provides a display container for use in storing, transporting, and/or displaying a spark plug. This second embodiment includes the first and second end caps as described in connection with the first embodiment, and further includes a hollow sleeve, formed of a transparent plastic, for slidably receiving the first and second end caps in respective opposed ends thereof to interconnect the end caps.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a set of end caps for protecting opposite ends of a spark plug in storage and transport thereof.

It is another object of the invention to provide a container for storing and also for attractively displaying a single spark plug. <BR> <BR> <P>For a more complete understanding of the present invention, the reader is referred to the<BR> m following detailed description section, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the following detailed description and in the drawings, like numbers refer to like parts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of a storage and display container assembly in connection with a first embodiment of the present invention, with a spark plug shown housed therein; Figure 2 is an exploded plan view of the container and spark plug of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top plan view of an upper end cap which is one component of the container of Figures 1-2; Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the upper end cap of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a side plan view of the upper end cap of Figures 3-4;

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the upper end cap of Figures 3-5, taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 5 ; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a lower end cap which is another component of the container of Figures 1-2; Figure 8 is a top plan view of the lower end cap of Figure 7 ; Figure 9 is a first side plan view of the lower end cap of Figure 7, taken from a first vantage point; Figure 10 is a second side plan view of the lower end cap of Figure 7, taken from a different vantage point than that of Figure 9; Figure 11 is a perspective view of an alternative lower end cap which may be used instead of the lower end cap of Figures 7-10; Figure 12 is a top plan view of the lower end cap of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a side plan view of the lower end cap of Figures 11-12; and Figure 14 is a cross-section of the lower end cap of Figures 11-13, taken along the line 14-14 in Figure 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Overview Referring now to Figures 1-2 of the drawings, a storage and display container for a spark plug is shown generally at 10. Many types of spark plugs are known and are commercially available. The container 10 according to the present invention is intended to be used to store and display a spark plug 12, but the spark plug, per se, is not part of the invention, rather, the spark plug 12 is included in the drawings for purposes of illustration and discussion.

The container 10, according to the embodiment of Figures 1-2, includes a first (upper) end cap 14, a second (lower) end cap 16, and a hollow tube 18 for interconnecting the first and second end caps. The tube 18 has holes formed in opposed ends thereof for slidably receiving the first and second end caps, respectively. Each of these components of the container 10 will be discussed in further detail herein.

As used throughout the present specification, relative positional terms such as"upper", "lower","top","bottom", and similar terms are used to refer to the orientation of the spark plug container 10, and the components thereof, in the orientation shown in Figures 1-2. It will be understood that the spark plug container 10 may be inverted or placed on its side, and that when so re-oriented, those positional terms would no longer be accurate. In some applications, the container 10 may be used in a different orientation from that shown in Figures 1-2. Accordingly, these terms are not intended to be absolute or to limit the scope of the invention, but rather, these terms are intended to relate to, and to illustrate specific examples of the invention.

The First End Cap Referring now to Figures 2-6, it will be seen that the first (upper) end cap 14 in the illustrated embodiment has a generally hexagonal outline, when seen in plan view (Figure 3).

The second end cap 16 should have a corresponding outline shape identical to that of the first end cap 14. While a hexagonal outline is shown, this outline may be circular, triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, or other shape, although regular, substantially geometric shapes are preferred.

The upper end cap 14 is a solid or hollow plastic body, and has a hollow socket 20 formed centrally therein for placement in covering relation over an upper terminal post 11 of a

spark plug 12. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper end cap 14 has a substantially flat roof plate 22 at the top thereof, and a substantially annular boss 24 integrally attached to and extending downwardly from the roof plate 22. The substantially annular boss 24 includes a first substantially cylindrical outer surface 25 which may, optionally, have a first groove 26 formed therein to provide communication between the interior of the tube 18, where used, and the ambient air outside the tube, to allow for pressure equalization.

Preferably, the lowermost portion of the annular boss 24 is tapered inwardly on both the inside and the outside thereof below the substantially cylindrical outer surface 25, as shown, to facilitate alignment of the end cap 14 with the terminal post 11 of a spark plug 12, and also to facilitate alignment thereof with an optional tube 18 (Figure 1), where used.

In the depicted embodiment, the roof plate 22 of the first end cap 14 comprises a first outer edge portion 28 which extends outwardly beyond the annular boss 24. The outer edge portion 28 defines a regular shape having a plurality of substantially flattened edge portions of substantially equal length. The end cap 14 of Figure 4 defines a hexagonal shape, as noted, having six flattened edge portions 30,32,34,36,38, and 40.

The Second End Cap (First Embodiment) Referring now to Figures 7-10, a first embodiment of a second end cap 16 is shown. This embodiment of the end cap 16 is the same as that shown in Figures 1-3. The second end cap 16 includes a base 44 and a basket 46 integrally attached to and extending upwardly from the base 44. The basket 46 includes a plurality of upwardly extending fingers. In the depicted embodiment, the basket 46 includes three fingers 48,50 and 51. Each of the fingers 48,50 and 51 includes an inwardly-facing plug contacting surface 49,51, and 53, respectively. As shown in

Figure 9 at 62,64, each of the fingers 48,50 and 52 may be beveled outwardly at the inside face of the upper end thereof, above the plug-contacting surface, to support a widened portion of a spark plug 12 thereon.

The base 44 of the lower end cap 16 includes a foundation plate 54 and an annular band 56 attached to and extending upwardly from the foundation plate. The annular band 56 has a substantially cylindrical outer surface 58. The outer surface 58 of the annular band 56 may, optionally, have a second groove 60 formed therein to provide communication between the interior of the tube 18, where used, and the ambient air outside the tube, to allow for pressure equalization therebetween.

As best seen in Figure 8, in this embodiment of the lower end cap 16, the fingers 48,50, 52 extend inwardly beyond the annular band 56, and the plug-contacting surfaces 49,51, and 53 are disposed along a cylinder C (Figure 8) which is coaxial with the annular band 56.

The Second End Cap (Alternative Embodiment) Referring now to Figures 11-14, a second end cap 216 in accordance with an alternative embodiment thereof is shown. The second end cap 216 includes a base 244 and a basket 246 integrally attached to and extending upwardly from the base. The basket 246 includes a plurality of upwardly extending support members for supporting a lower end of a spark plug 12. In the depicted embodiment, the basket 246 includes two opposed fork members 248,250. Each of the fork members 248,250 includes an inwardly-facing plug contacting surface 249,251 respectively (Figure 13). As shown in Figure 13, each of the fork members 248, 250 may be somewhat cut away at the inside surfaces thereof which face toward one another, below the plug- contacting surfaces 249,251, to allow a user to view a base of a spark plug 12 which may be

installed thereon.

The base 244 of the lower end cap 216 includes a foundation plate 254, and the two opposed fork members 248,250 of the basket 246 are attached to, and extend upwardly from the foundation plate 216. Each of the fork members 248,250 is a thin-walled shell including respective opposed drum segments 255,256 having substantially vertical side walls, connected by shoulder portions to a pair of substantially horizontal crescents 257,258. Taken together, the drum segments 255,256 of the fork members 248,250 define a substantially cylindrical outer surface around the basket 246 for interfering placement inside a tube 18. Optionally, the outer surface of one drum segment 250 may, have a second groove 260 formed therein to provide communication between the interior of the tube 18, where used, and the ambient air outside the tube, to allow for pressure equalization therebetween.

Although the present invention has been described herein with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, the foregoing description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive.

Those skilled in the art will realize that many modifications of the preferred embodiment could be made which would be operable. All such modifications, which are within the scope of the claims, are intended to be within the scope and spirit of the present invention.