BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat which is adapted to be attached to an article, such as a sun visor in a car, and more particularly to an assembly of an eyeglass seat and a case seat which are magnetically attracted to each other.

2. Description of the Related Art

When driving a car, it is necessary for the eyes of the driver to be protected from exposure to bright sunlight, such as by wearing a pair of sunglasses. When the sunglasses are not in use during driving, they are preferably put at a safe and easily accessible place. A conventional eyeglass case, however, cannot be fixed at such a place in the car. As such, the driver may have to take time to look for the same, thereby resulting in inconvenience to the driver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of this invention is to provide an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat which is attracted magnetically to the eyeglass case and which is mounted removably on a sun visor in a car.

According to this invention, an eyeglass case assembly includes an eyeglass case and a case seat. The eyeglass case has a coupling portion with a first magnetic member attached thereto. The case seat has a face which is disposed adjacent to the coupling portion of the eyeglass case and which is provided with a second magnetic member that is attached thereto and that attracts magnetically with the first magnetic member, thereby fixing the eyeglass case to the case seat. The case seat further includes a clamping device which is adapted to hold a sun visor thereon, thereby mounting the case seat fixedly on the sun visor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1

is a partly exploded perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat according to this invention;

FIG. 2

is a side view of the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3

is a side view of a second preferred embodiment of an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat according to this invention;

FIG. 4

is a partly exploded perspective view of a third preferred embodiment of an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat according to this invention; and

FIG. 5

is a partly exploded perspective view of a fourth preferred embodiment of an assembly of an eyeglass case and a case seat according to this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to

FIGS. 1 and 2

, a first preferred embodiment of an eyeglass case assembly according to this invention is shown to include an eyeglass case

1

that accommodates a pair of sunglasses

10

therein, and a unitary plastic case seat

2

that is mounted on a sun visor

7

in a car.

The eyeglass case

1

is elongated, and has two open ends, a front cover

11

, a rear cover

12

, and a first magnetic member

13

. The front and rear covers

11

,

12

have lower edges

111

,

121

that are interconnected pivotally, and upper edges

112

,

122

that are interconnected removably by a snap fitting unit

14

. The rear cover

12

has a vertical rear surface or coupling portion

123

. The first magnetic member

13

is fixed to a middle portion of the coupling portion

123

, and is formed as a stainless steel plate. Alternatively, the first magnetic member

13

may be any other suitable magnetizable element. The eyeglass case

1

may be of any other suitable shape and structure. Because the shape and structure of the eyeglass case

1

is not pertinent to the features of this invention, further description thereof will be omitted herein for the sake of brevity. In this embodiment, the sunglasses

10

are a pair of auxiliary eyeglasses, which can be associated with a pair of primary eyeglasses (not shown) worn directly by a driver in the car.

The case seat

2

connects the eyeglass case

1

removably to the sun visor

7

, and includes a seat body

21

and a clamping device

22

. The seat body

21

has a vertical face

211

which is formed integrally with an upper abutment unit

212

and a lower abutment unit

213

that extend respectively and forwardly from upper and lower ends of the seat body

21

and that define therebetween a space

214

for accommodating the eyeglass case

1

therein. The eyeglass case

1

has upper and lower ends that abut respectively against the upper and lower abutment units

212

,

213

. The face

211

is provided with a second magnetic member

23

that is attached to a central portion thereof and that attracts magnetically with the first magnetic member

13

, thereby fixing the eyeglass case

1

to the case seat

2

. In this embodiment, the second magnetic member

23

is formed as a magnet. It is understood that as long as the first and second magnetic members

13

,

23

can attract magnetically with each other, they can be made of any suitable materials. For example, the first magnetic member

13

can be a magnet, while the second magnetic member

23

can be a stainless steel plate.

The clamping device

22

is shaped as a clip plate which has a connecting portion

221

and a clamping portion

223

. The connecting portion

221

is formed integrally with the upper end of the seat body

21

. The clamping portion

223

extends integrally and downwardly from the connecting portion

221

so as to form a gap

222

between the clamping portion

223

and the seat body

21

, which is adapted to clamp the sun visor

7

therewithin.

When it is desired to wear the eyeglasses

10

, the driver pulls the eyeglass case

1

forcibly away from the case seat

2

against magnetic attractive force between the first and second magnetic members

13

,

23

so as to take out the eyeglasses

10

from the eyeglass case

1

. Because the eyeglass case

1

is attached to the case seat

2

, which is fixed on the sun visor

7

, it is easily accessible to the driver. When the driver gets off the car, the eyeglass case

1

can be taken away from the car with the case seat

2

remaining on the sun visor

7

.

FIG. 3

shows a second preferred embodiment of this invention, which is generally similar to the first embodiment in construction and which includes an eyeglass case

3

with a rear cover

31

, and a case seat

4

with a seat body

41

. The seat body

41

has a vertical face that is formed integrally with an upper abutment unit

42

, and a lower abutment unit

43

. Unlike the first embodiment, the upper abutment unit

43

is formed with a downwardly extending integral tongue

45

. The rear cover

31

of the eyeglass case

3

has an upper end

32

which is formed with a groove

33

that engages the tongue

45

of the upper abutment unit

43

of the case seat

4

, thereby facilitating positioning of the eyeglass case

3

on the case seat

4

.

FIG. 4

shows a third preferred embodiment of this invention, which is generally similar to the first embodiment in construction except that the first magnetic member

51

of the eyeglass case

5

is shaped as a ring, which defines a central hole

511

, while the second magnetic member

61

of the case seat

6

is shaped as a cylinder that engages fittingly the central hole

511

in the first magnetic member

51

of the eyeglass case

5

.

FIG. 5

shows a fourth preferred embodiment of this invention, which includes an eyeglass case

8

and a case seat

9

that are generally similar to those of the first embodiment in construction except that the eyeglass case

8

is shaped as a sealed casing.

The assembly of this invention has the following advantages:

(1) The eyeglass case can be mounted conveniently, at a safe and easily accessible place in a car, such as on a sun visor, by means of the clamping device of the case seat.

(2) Because the eyeglass case is attached to the case seat by only the magnetic attractive force between the first and second magnetic members, the driver can remove the eyeglass case from the case seat with ease.

With this invention thus explained, it is apparent that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. It is therefore intended that this invention be limited only as indicated by the appended claims.