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Magnetic organizerMagnetic organizer description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20090266951, Magnetic organizer. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a vertical, panel-like organizer structured to have movable supports coupled thereto, and more specifically, to a magnetic organizer having a generally planar magnetic member with movable support assemblies coupled thereto, said generally planar magnetic member having at least one horizontally extending protuberance on an attachment surface. 2. Background Information Vertical organizers are devices structured to support various items along a vertical surface. Of course, vertical organizers require an attaching means structured to support each item in its vertical position. Thus, in perhaps its most primitive form, a vertical organizer includes a series of pegs or nails extending from a vertical wall. The user could then hang tools of an appropriate shape, e.g., the curved side of a claw hammer, or tools with an appropriately-positioned hole or loop of material, from the peg. While simple and functional, a fixed-peg system had the disadvantage of not being adjustable. This could limit the number of tools, and their positions, stored on the organizer. There are at least two improvements that overcome this difficulty; pegboards and magnetic strips, both of which are typically coupled to a wall. A pegboard is a sheet of material having a series of holes therethrough. The holes are typically disposed in a grid or other regular pattern. A “peg” may be inserted into a hole and used to store a tool or other device. Typically, a peg included a portion that extended along the pegboard, along with two bent tips structured to be inserted into the holes, and another portion that extended generally perpendicular to the pegboard. If the user needed to make more room or just wanted to reposition the tool, the user simply removed the peg from its first hole(s) and inserted the peg in another. Further, the “pegs” could easily be adapted to store different types of tools. For example, a peg could be bent into a horizontal loop and used to store screwdrivers and other elongated tools, a peg could be split into a yoke and used to support hammers or similar tools, a peg could be a U-shaped hook, or otherwise adapted to a specific tool. While pegboards are adjustable, the process of moving the pegs can be time consuming. For example, a user may shift a series of pegs to one side to accommodate a new tool. However, after placing the new tool in its place, the user may discover the pegs are still too close, and the process has to be repeated. Magnetic organizers typically have an elongated, permanent magnet disposed between two steel, or other ferrous metal, plates. The thin edges of the plates are used as magnetic coupling surfaces. Often, two such devices were disposed in a spaced relationship. The devices typically extended generally horizontally. A user may attach any ferrous tool to the exposed edges of the plates. With such a magnetic device, a user may quickly shift the tools around in order to accommodate new tools. The disadvantage to this device is that it typically extends for a limited length, thereby limiting the number of tools that may be attached. Further, because the plates and/or different devices are held in a spaced relationship, the user cannot, for example, move the tools to a different vertical location on the wall. Further, while the device is, by its nature, limited to ferrous tools, even a small amount of plastic, such as a coating on a handle, could diminish the attraction between the magnet and the tool to a point where the magnetic force is insufficient to hold the tool to the magnet. While the magnetic attraction could be increased by using stronger magnets, such stronger magnets are expensive. One attempt to combine the best features of these two systems is to provide a ferromagnetic sheet and supports, e.g., “pegs” of various shapes, having a ferromagnetic base. That is, at least one of the two components, either a sheet or the base of the supports, was a magnet. The other was either another magnet or, more typically, a ferrous material. Such a device addressed the disadvantages of the prior two devices. Like a pegboard, the supports could be moved to any location on the sheet, including different vertical locations; but, like a magnetic organizer, the user could simply attach/detach a support and not have inserted pegs into holes. Unfortunately, this configuration was not optimal either. While the magnets were typically strong enough to resist being separated from the sheet, the magnets did not have enough attraction to prevent the support from sliding down the sheet. That is, the magnets could not prove a sufficient magnetic attraction to create a high starting friction between the sheet and the support base. Thus, the support would slide down the sheet. This was especially true when a mass, typically a tool, was coupled to the support. The present invention overcomes this problem by providing cooperative magnetic members, one generally planar member, and one support assembly having a magnetic member, and including one or more horizontally-extending protuberances on the generally planar member. The protuberances create a non-vertical surface that at least some portion of the support assemblies may catch upon, thereby preventing downward sliding. It is noted that any two objects placed in contact with each other have a “starting friction” that must be overcome prior to the two objects sliding against each other. Once objects are in motion, a “sliding friction” exists therebetween. The force required to overcome the starting friction is always higher than the force required to overcome the sliding friction. Typically, both the starting friction and the sliding friction may be increased by increasing the coarseness of the two objects. For example, it is easier to slide two sheets of plain paper against each other than it is to slide two pieces of sandpaper against each other. Further, starting friction is increased and therefore the force required to overcome the starting friction is increased, when the objects are biased or pressed together. Again, using sheets of paper as an example, if one person was to hold three sheets of paper between their thumb and forefinger and apply minimal force, another person could remove the middle sheet of paper with ease. This is because there is a minimal starting friction between the sheets of paper; however, if the person holding the paper were to greatly increase the force applied by their thumb and forefinger, the person removing the middle sheet would have to pull harder as the starting friction is greatly increased. The strength of a magnetic attraction relates to both the strength of the magnet and the distance to the ferrous object. Further, even a slight increase in distance between the magnet and the object will greatly reduce the strength of the magnetic attraction. Thus, when coupling two objects by magnetic attraction, it is best to have as much of the surface of the two magnetically attracted objects as close together as possible, and more preferably in contact with each other. Accordingly, most magnets and the surface to which they are attached are smooth, thereby increasing the surface area in contact; but, as noted above, smooth surfaces tend to have a lower starting/sliding friction. Thus, while an increased magnetic force acts to increase the starting friction, that is, the magnetic force is similar to pressing the magnet against the surface, this increase in starting friction is not always so great as to prevent the magnet from sliding on a ferrous surface. This is especially true as the inclination of the surface becomes more vertical and/or the weight of the magnet, or any object the magnet supports, increases. The present invention overcomes the problem of sliding by providing one or more protuberances on the sheet. The protuberances have a sufficient perpendicular offset so that the support assembly must be lifted off the sheet in order to move past the protuberance. That is, as noted above, many magnetic devices have a sufficient strength to support the weight of a tool, i.e., the magnet device will not detach from a ferrous surface due to the weight of the tool, but not enough strength to prevent sliding on a vertical surface. Thus, when a protuberance has a sufficient perpendicular offset, the support assembly must be lifted off the sheet in order to move past the protuberance. A full understanding of the invention can be gained from the following description of the preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Continue reading about Magnetic organizer... Full patent description for Magnetic organizer Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Magnetic organizer patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Magnetic organizer or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Universal dishwasher anchoring bracket Next Patent Application: Magnetic organizer Industry Class: Supports ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Magnetic organizer patent info. 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