Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COVER FOR KEY STORAGE LOCK BOX
The present invention relates to a cover tor a key storage lock box.
BACKGROUND
Key storage lock boxes are now commonly available that can be used when a
person is
selling a property such as a house, condo, commercial building, etc. to
securely store a
key for the property inside. The key storage lock box is secured at a property
that is tbr
sale and someone, like a real estate agent, that is showing the property to
potential
customers can get access to the key inside the key storage lock box and use
the key to
gain access to the property to show the potential customers the property.
Typically, the key storage lock box is secured near a door of the property,
usually to the
door handle itself or a nearby railing. If the property is a house, the key
storage lock box
is usually secured to or near the front door. When a real estate agent brings
potential
buyers to the property to show the property to the prospective buyers, the
real estate agent
can open up the key storage lock box and take the key for the property stored
inside and
USC it to open the door to the property and gain access to the property to
show it to the
prospective buyers. When the real estate agent is done showing the property,
he or she
once again locks the key inside the key storage lock box and it then is ready
to he
accessed by the next real estate agent with the next potential buyer of the
property.
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These key storage lock boxes have become an essential part of the real estate
industry
because they make it much easier for a number of di fferent real estate agents
to gain
access to a single property that is for sale to show to prospective
purchasers. Rather than
each real estate agent that wants to show the property to a potential
purchaser having to
affange in advance to get a key for the property, the real estate agent simply
has to meet
his or her prospective buyers at the property and get the key or keys out of
the key
storage lock box. The key is secured in the key storage lock box when not
being used
and is only accessible using a master key, security code, swipe card,
electronic signal,
etc. that is only given to real estate agents. When the key is locked in the
key storage
lock box, it is secured away and inaccessible unless you have a master key,
security code,
swipe card, etc.
Typically, these key storage boxes consist of a main body where a key to the
house is
stored and a curved neck or shackle. The shackle is attached to the main body
and is
sized so that it is large enough to tit around the shaft of a door knob, hut
small enough
that it cannot be slipped over the door knob itself. The shackle typically
contains a lock
on one side so that the shackle can be opened and then locked around the shaft
of the
door knob to secure the key storage lock box in place. The main body has an
internal
compartment for storing a key. Typically, the internal compartment is
accessible by a
locked door or panel that is opened using a master key, security code, swipe
card,
electronic signal, etc. There are numerous different types of key storage lock
boxes that
use various ways of accessing the internal compartment and likely even more
proposed
CA 02872351 2014-11-27
ways of doing so in the prior art. Additionally, some of the key storage lock
box systems
are becoming quite sophisticated, with some now being able to track and log
which real
estate agents are accessing the key storage lock box and when.
These key storage lock boxes are usually quite durable and relatively large,
however,
they are also quite plan. A. real estate agent will typically purchase a.
number of key
storage lock boxes so that they can be installed in the different properties
that he or she is
selling. However, because of their plain exterior they do not stand out and
offer little in
the way of promoting or even identifying the real estate agent that owns or
uses the key
storage lock box. Some real estate agents tape or attach his or her business
card to the
a key storage lock box to provide people with their contact .intbmiation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described below with
reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
F1G. I illustrates a conventional key storage lock box;
FIG. 2 illustrates the key storage lock box of FIG.1 with an internal
compartment
removed and a shackle in an Open position;
FIG. 3 illustrates a cover for a key storage lock box;
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FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a cover for a key storage lock box on a
backing
sheet;
FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a slightly different cover for a key storage
lock
box on a backing sheet;
FIG. 6 illustrates a .flow chart of the printing of a custom cover for a key
storage
lock box; and
FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart for installing the cover on a key storage lock
box.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. I and 2 illustrate a conventional key storage lock box 10. The lock box
10 can
to have a main body 20 and a shackle 40. The main body 20 can have side
walls 22, 24
each defining an outward facing side surface 23, 25, a front wall 26 defining
a front
surface 27 and a back wall 28 defining a back surface. The lock box 10 can
have a
shackle 40 removeably attached to the main body 20 so that the shackle 40 can
be
secured around a door handle, railing, etc,. to secure the lock box 10 at a
property.
Referring to FIG. 2, the lock box 10 can have an interior compartment 50
accessible
through a bottom 32 of the lock box 10 and sized to hold a key. When the lock
box 10 is
locked, the interior compartment 50 is held in place inside the main body 20
and secures
the interior compartment 50 inside the main body 20 with a key inside the
interior
compartment 50.
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Referring again to FIGS. I and 2, the shackle 40 can be secured into the main
body 20 so
that the shackle 40 can be unlocked and attached around a door handle, etc.
Positioned
directly below where the shackle 40 attaches to the main body 20 is a collar
surface 36.
The collar surface 36 is positioned above the front surface 27 of the front
wall 26 and is
typically angled backwards relative to the front surface 27.
The front surtlice 27 and side surfaces 23, 25 define generally flat surfaces.
Especially on
the front surface 27, exterior features 29 such as key holes, sensors, etc.
may be
positioned on the front surface 27 that are needed to access the key in the
interior
compartment 50.
lc) FIG. 3 illustrates a cover 100 for a key storage lock box. The cover
100 can comprise a
front portion 110 that is sized to substantially cover the front surface 27
and the side
surfaces 23,25 of a key storage lock box 10. The front portion 110 of the
cover 100 can
be a single piece. The front portion 110 can have apertures 112 to leave any
necessary
exterior features 29 on the front surface 27 of the lock box 10 uncovered.
IS The cover 100 can also have a collar portion 120 that is sized to fit
the collar surface 36
on the lock box 10.
Optionally, a shackle portion 130 can be provided to cover a front surface of
the shackle
40 so that a design and/or color scheme used on the front portion 110 and the
collar
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portion 120 can be carried over to the shackle 40 of the lock box. 1.0 to
provide a more
unified design.
'fhe front portion 110, collar portion 120 and shackle portion 130 can he a
vinyl material,
such as the vinyl materials now commonly used to wrap vehicles and that allows
colors,
designs, works, etc. to be printed directly onto the vinyl material. In one
aspect, the front
portion 110, collar portion 120 and shackle portion 130 can be laminated after
the ink is
applied to the vinyl material to improve the resiliency of the cover 100 since
it will likely
spend a lot of time outdoors.
The vinyl material will have an adhesive on the opposite side from the side
that the ink is
applied to. This adhesive is typically tacky enough to adhere the cover 100 to
the lock
box 10 so that the cover 100 remains on the lock box 10, but not so tacky that
the cover
100 cannot be easily removed and repositioned without leaving substantial
adhesive
residue on the lock box 10. In one aspect, the tackiness of the adhesive used
could be
N/25mm:17 for unlaminated covers and .N/25mm:18 for laminated covers.
FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrates examples of covers 152, 156 that are designed to fit
different
sized key storage lock boxes. By slightly varying the shapes of the covers
152, 156 they
can be used on different lock boxes. Because there are a number of different
types and
shapes of key storage lock boxes, the covers might have to have varying shapes
to be
used with the different commercially available key storage lock boxes.
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Tim covers 152, 156 are both attached to backings 154, 158 until the covers
152, 156 are
peeled off and applied to a lock box 10.
FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method for ordering and installing a
customized cover
100 for a key storage lock box 10. Because a real estate agent may have only
have a few
(or even only a single lock box 10), the lock box 10 will typically be
unadorned and plain
(usually just formed of a high-strength dark-colored plastic).
However, to help
differentiate his or her lock boxes 10 from the lock boxes 10 of other real
estate agents as
well as provide some marketing for the real estate agent, a person can order a
custom
cover 100 tor use on his or her own lock boxes 10. The use of the customized
covers 100
() allows a single person to customize as few as one or as many covers 100
as they would
like so that wherever his or her lock boxes 10 are placed, that real estate
agent's specific
information is provided to help promote that specific real estate agent.
At step 202 the agent can provide his or her personal information. This could
be the
information that the real estate agent would provide on his or her business
card, e.g.
is telephone number, email address, fax number, website, social media URLs,
etc. At step
204 the agent could provide his or her photograph. This would typically be a
head shot
of the real estate agent. At step 206 the agent could indicate or provide a
logo of the real
estate brokerage that he or she is affiliated with.
At step 208 the agent could provide information and/or an image to be applied
to the
20 collar portion 120 of the cover 100. This could be a sentence, slogan,
name, logo, etc. or
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just about anything the real estate agent desires to have placed on the collar
portion 120
of the cover LOU.
At step 210, a cover 100 on a backing sheet can be printed. The cover can have
a cutout
portion for the front portion 110, collar portion 120 and shackle portion 130.
The front
portion 110 can have a design printed on it that incorporates the information
provided at
step 202, the photograph provided at step 204 and the brokerage logo indicated
or
provided at step 206. The information and/or image provided at step 208 can be
incorporated into the design of the collar portion 120. The shackle portion
130 can be
printed with a color and/or design that matches the design on the front
portion 110.
This customized cover 100 will then display a design and information specific
to the real
estate agent that has ordered the cover 100.
Once the real estate agent has received the cover 100, he or she can apply it
to a lock box
10. FIG. 7 illustrates a method of applying the cover 100 to the lock box 10.
At step 302, the real estate agent can begin to apply the cover 100 to his or
her lock box
5 10 by removing the front portion 110 from the backing sheet and affixing
it to the front
face 27 and side faces 23, 25 of the lock box 10, being careful to align the
edges of the
front portion 110 with the edges of the front face 27 and side faces 23, 25 of
the lock box
10 and any apertures 112 in the front portion 110 with the exterior features
29 on the lock
box 10.
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At step 304, the real estate agent can remove the collar portion 120 of the
cover 100 from
the backing sheet and apply it to the collar surface 36 of the lock box 10. At
step 306, the
shackle portion 130 can be removed from the backing sheet and applied to the
shackle 40
of the lock box 10.
The lock box 10 can then have a custom look identifying the specific real
estate agent
that owns the lock box 10. When the lock box 10 is secured outside a property,
the lock
box 10 and its cover 100 will display to people the real estate agent's
contact information,
picture, etc. as well as being able to provide a colorful and eye-catching
design that
attracts people's attention to the lock box. This is especially true when
installed at a
i 0 building where there are numerous other lock boxes provided, such as a
large apartment
or condominium building.
When the real estate agent is done with the lock box, there is usually a
pretty good re-sale
market for used lock boxes since they are relatively durable and can last a
long time. The
lock box can usually easily be sold or given to someone else and the cover 100
simply
removed from the lock box 10. The new owner can either leave the lock box 10
in its
standard color or apply a cover 100 of his or her own to the lock box 10.
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the
invention.
Further, since numerous changes and modifications will readily occur to those
skilled in
the art, it is not desired to limit the _invention to the exact construction
and operation
shown and described, and accordingly, all such suitable changes or
modifications in
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structure or operation which may be resorted to are intended to fall within
the scope of
the claimed invention.
