Integral storage receptacle for personal computer

Claim 1

Apparatus for storing various items in the front panel of a personal computer, for ready access to a user of the computer, comprising: a box-shaped receptacle having a back wall, opposing side walls, a top, a bottom, and a front opening, configured for sliding through the front panel of a computer into an unused floppy disk space of a computer; said receptacle including means for securing said receptacle to a computer, wherein items including pencils, erasers, paper clips, floppy disks, and pens can be stored in said receptacle; a top flange across the top of said receptacle just rearward and parallel to said front opening; and a bottom flange across the bottom of said receptacle just rearward of and parallel to said front opening, said top and bottom flanges serving to limit the extent to which said receptacle can be slid into an unused floppy disk space; wherein said means for securing includes: said top and bottom flanges lying in the same vertical plane; and moveable tab means having elastic memory formed in each side wall of said receptacle slightly rearward of the vertical plane common to said top and bottom flanges, whereby as said receptacle is slid into an associated spare floppy disk space, said moveable tab means engages side edges of an opening in a front panel of a computer for snapping into place on the back of said panel, thereby securing said receptacle between said top and bottom flanges, and said moveable tab means to said panel; and wherein said moveable tab means includes a U-shaped cutout in each side of said receptacle, with the bottom of the U-shaped cutout juxtaposed to the vertical plane of said top and bottom flanges, the portions of the material of the sides of said receptacle within the region surrounded by said cutout on three sides forming a tab, said tabs being bent slightly outward and away from their associated sides.