Contact lens case

Claim 1

A plastic contact lens case of a size and thickness suited to the storing of large stocks and/or inventories of contact lenses, in pairs or single lens, in orderly array and in readily identifiable manner in the drawer of a commercial photo-slide file case, and to the sending of contact lenses, either as contact lens blanks or as finished lenses, through the mail in regular mailing envelopes, and also to use by contact lens wearers as a pocket and/or handbag carrying and/or an overnight storage case therefor, comprising: a thin, substantially rigid, generally planar plate of plastic material having rectangular configuration, the length and width of which is such as to provide same with surface area requisite for an initially two-compartment contact lens case and correspondingly with two side-by-side sub-areas each requisite for a single-compartment lens case; two short-height cylindrical formations integral with and extending upwardly from the upper face of said plate and being disposed symmetrically to the sides of the vertical center lines of said two side-by-side sub-areas; the end surfaces of said formations being each recessed to provide a contact lens-holding compartment; caps capable of being snap fit on the upper ends of said cylindrical formations and adapted when snap-fitted thereto to close said recesses; flexible hinge straps interconnecting said caps to an upper-edge portion of said plate and adapted when loosely doubled on themselves along a transverse fold line of each to position said caps above said recesses; a pair of spaced, upstanding, extending rib means on each of said hinge straps and being positioned thereon to abut on one another when said straps are too forcefully doubled on themselves and being in a normally non-contacting position when said caps are snap-fitted on said formation upper ends, said two side-by-side sub-areas being delineated by a readily visible line of weakness providing indication of the line of separation to be followed in converting an initially twocompartment lens case as aforesaid into two single-compartment matched lens cases; and the exterior of only one of said caps being provided with visual and tactile identification indicia.