GB2291531A

GB2291531A - Educational aid

Info

Publication number: GB2291531A
Application number: GB9414235A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Mansi; Peter John Basham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-07-14
Filing date: 1994-07-14
Publication date: 1996-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 2014-07-14
Also published as: HK1013717A1; GB2291531B; GB9414235D0

Abstract

The aid comprises a base board (1) on which a rotatable disc (2) is mounted. The disc is divided into either seven sectors (3) to represent the days of the week or twelve sectors to represent the months of the year. The rotatable disc comprises a rotation mechanism which increments the disc by one sector or segment in response to a manual operation. The device aids children to grasp and fully understand the concepts of yesterday, today, tomorrow and the days of the week or alternatively last month, this month and next month and the months of the year. <IMAGE>

Description

EDUCATIONAL AID This invention concerns an educational aid intended to enable children between four and six years of age to grasp and fully understand the concepts of yesterday, today, tomorrow and the days of the week or alternatively last month, this month and next month and months of the year. It is also intended to enable children to learn to identify the names of the days of the week or alternatively the months of the year. With appropriate marking the same may be used to teach children the order and significance of numbers 1 to 7 or the numbers 1 to 12.

Countless board games have been developed to demonstrate and encourage the understanding of these ideas.

The present educational aid has been designed to dispense with the use of multiple parts, stick on accessories, playing cards and the like, such things that children of this age could easily lose and therefore rendering such aids in effective.

There is thus a need for an educational aid which will satisfy the education requirements aforesaid but which also is mechanically robust and easy to use. Such an educational aid should also be of simple construction and cheap to manufacture so that it can be made widely available for education.

This educational aid has therefore been made to meet many if not all of the above-mentioned requirements.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an educational aid comprising a base board; a rotatable disc rotatably mounted on said base board; and a manually operable rotation mechanism co-operable with said rotatable disc for rotating said rotatable disc by increments; wherein the surface area of said rotatable disc is divided into labelled sectors or segments, seven in number, each denoting a day of the week or, alternatively, twelve in number each denoting a month of the year, the unlabelled portion of each sector or segment providing a display area for displaying symbols or characters associable with each respective day or month; said base board has a labelled area visible at the periphery of said rotatable disc and denoting previous, present, and next, day or, alternatively, month, arranged to correspond to adjacent respective and consecutive sectors or segments of said rotatable disc; and said rotation mechanism is co-operable with said rotatable disc to increment the rotatable disc by a one sector or segment rotation at a time in response to manual operation.

It is preferable that the base board of the educational aid should include means for wall mounting. In this case then the educational aid may be mounted to a wall where it can be seen and used with ease.

Conveniently the display area of each sector or segment may be provided with a write-erasable surface. With this preferred feature it is then possible to dispense with multi component parts such as magnetic symbols or characters or intermeshing felt symbols or characters which might be easily lost during frequent use. A clip or other holder may be provided for retaining a marker pencil or other writing instrument for writing erasable symbols or characters upon the display areas.

It is convenient to mount the rotatable disc axially.

It is also convenient to provide a rotation mechanism which is disposed at the centre of the rotatable disc.

Such rotation mechanism may be one which is provided with means of attaching the rotatable disc to the base board and has means of axial mounting.

The rotation mechanism optionally may be one which is operable by a combined push and rotate action.

It is preferable that rotation is constrained in an anticlockwise direction so that the days of the week or months of the year may follow in a clockwise order consistent with conventional representations of time.

So that this invention may be fully comprehended preferred embodiments thereof will now be described and reference will be made to the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is a plan view of an educational aid for teaching the concepts of yesterday, today and tomorrow and days of the week; Figures 2 and 3 are part elevation and part cross-section views of the rotation mechanism of the educational aid as shown in Figure 1, the cross-section being taken in a plane which is parallel to the axis of the rotatable disc transverse to the base board; Figure 4 is a cross-section of the rotation mechanism of the educational aid of Figure 1 taken in a plane parallel to the surface of the base board; Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the teeth of a drum portion of the rotation mechanism shown in Figure 1; and Figure 6 is a plane view of an alternative educational aid which is intended for teaching the concepts of last month, present month and next month and months of the year.

The following description is given by way of example only.

In Figure 1 there is shown an educational aid comprising a base board 1 and a rotatable disc 2 rotatably mounted on this base board 1. The rotatable disc 2 is divided into seven sectors 3 by radially extending dividing lines 4 which are regularly spaced in the circumferential direction. Alternatively the rotatable disc 2 may be divided by boundaries between sectors of different colour. The seven sectors 3 are labelled at the outer periphery of the rotatable disc 2 to denote the days of the week Monday through Sunday. The unlabelled portion of each sector 3 provides a display area 5 for displaying symbols or characters which can be associated with each respective day of the week. A child may choose the symbols or characters which he wishes to use in each sector 3.Optionally each sector 3 can be labelled 1 to 7 in consecutive order as a means of familiarising the child with the run of numbers 1 to 7 and their significance in relation to the days of the week. In this preferred embodiment the display area 5 of each sector 3 is a write-erasable surface upon which the child may write symbols or characters using a marker pencil or other writing instrument.

An area 6 of the base board, which is adjacent to, and visible at, the periphery of the rotatable disc 2 is marked to denote yesterday, today and tomorrow. The labels "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow" are arranged to coincide with the sectors at the top, to the left of the top, and to the right of the top sector, of the rotatable disc 2.

The base board 1 has two drilled holes 7 for mounting the base board 1 to a wall. Alternative means such as a chain and wall clip may be used for wall mounting. A clip 8 is also provided on the base board 1 for attaching a marker pencil or other writing instrument for writing the erasable symbols or characters on the display area.

In the foregoing description of this preferred embodiment the rotatable disc is circular and is divided into sectors. This is particularly convenient as it allows close proximity between the labelled area 6 of the base board 1 and the labelled sectors 3 of the rotatable disc 2. However, the use of a rotatable disc of seven sided polygon shape divided into seven segments is not precluded.

In this preferred embodiment the rotatable disc 2 is axially mounted on the base board 1. This is the most convenient arrangement. The axial rotatable mounting is conveniently provided by a boss 9 which can serve not only to secure the rotatable disc 2 to the base board 1, but which may also be adapted to provide a rotation mechanism for incrementing the rotatable disc 2 by one sector rotation at a time in response to manual operation. The details of this rotation mechanism 9 will now be described with reference to Figures 2 to 5.

The boss member 9 is of a two piece construction comprising a drum member 10 and a cap member 11. The drum member 10 has a shouldered base portion 12 to fit a recess or hole in the base board member 1 and to provide a means of bonding the drum member 10 to the base board 1. The drum member 10 has an upper right cylindrical portion 13 having seven outwardly and axially extending teeth 14 which are arranged equally spaced around the circumference of the upper portion 13 of the drum member 13. Each tooth 14 as shown in Figure 5 has a chamfered face 15 facing upwardly and circumferentially in a clockwise direction. The tooth 14 also has a shouldered portion at its base beneath the chamfered face 16 which shoulder portion presents a face 16 which is to act as a stop.

The cap member 11 has a number of spring tabs 17 arranged inside and about an inner circumference of the cap. The interpretation of the spring tabs 17 with the cap member 11 is preferred to use of a separate resilient member.

These tabs 17 are resilient and upon assembly are slightly compressed to hold the cap 11 in a locked position. The cap member 11 also has a multiplicity of tabs 18 which extend from the cylindrical side wall 19 of the cap member 11 radially inwardly at a slant angle so that the tabs 18 also extend in a circumferential clockwise direction. Beneath these inwardly extending spring tabs 18 there are located seven circumferentially and equally spaced radially inwardly extending lugs 20 which are to engage with the stop face 16 of each tooth 15 of the drum member 10. The stop lugs 20, conveniently seven in number, are provided to distribute and reduce wear.

At the base of the cylindrical side wall 19 of the cap member 11 there is an inwardly extending lip 21 which fits resiliently and snuggly over a flared shoulder portion 22 of the drum member 10. This lip 21 is engaged with the flared shoulder portion 22 of the drum member 10 under the action of compression of the spring tabs 17 which are slightly compressed. The cylindrical side wall 19 of the cap member 11 also has an outwardly extended lip portion 23 to engage the underside of the rotatable disc 2. Above the lip portion 21 and 23 are provided one or more locating lugs 24 for locating the cap member 11 relative to the rotatable disc 2. Similarly, locating lugs (not shown) are provided for locating the drum member 10 in position relative to the base board 1.The cooperation of the lugs of the cap member 11 and drum member 10 with corresponding notches in the rotatable disc 2 and base board 1 ensure alignment of the sectors 3 with the labelled area 6 of the base board 1.

Operation of the boss member 9 will now be described with reference to Figures 2 to 5. The boss 9 in locked position is shown in Figures 2 and 4. In this locked position the stop lugs 20 of the cap member 11 engage with the stop facers 16 of the teeth 15 of the drum member 10. When the cap member 11 is pushed towards the base board 1 and the spring tabs 17 are compressed, the stop lugs 20 are compressed to a position where they lie free of the respective stop faces 16 of the teeth 14 as shown in Figure 3. The cap member 11 and the attached rotatable disc 2 may then be rotated in an anti-clockwise direction against the pressure of the inwardly extending spring tabs 18 acting against each chamfered face 15 of the teeth 14 of the drum member 10.As anti-clockwise rotation is continued the spring tabs 18 pass over the teeth 14 and with appropriate choice of materials this can result in an audible click as each tooth 14 passes the respective spring tab 18. Once the first spring tab 18 has been passed in each case, pressure on the tab member 11 can be released and rotation continued until each stop lug 20 engages the respective stop face 16 of the next tooth 14 of the drum member 10 following one sector rotation of the rotatable disc 2. In this way the label Monday" which is aligned with the base board label "today" may be changed so that the labelled sector "Tuesday" comes into alignment with the label "today" at the outer periphery of the disc 2.This operation may then be repeated to bring the next labelled sector "Wednesday" into alignment with the outer label "today" and so forth in the sequence Monday to Sunday. It will be noted also that the number sequence 1 to 7 is brought into correspondence with the "today" label in clockwise sequence as the rotatable disc 2 is rotated in the anticlockwise direction.

The device described may be comprised of two flat plastics material parts with a two-piece centre boss which also may be of plastics material. Typically the base board may be 380mm x 380mm and the rotatable disc of 300mm diameter. The plastics material surface of the rotatable disc 2 may be written upon using a black wax or other colour marker pencil such as a "chinagraph (trade mark)" wherein the writing of symbols or characters may be readily erased. The child using the educational aid may write symbols or characters associated with each day of the week, for example church steeple in the Sunday sector, a school book as start the school on the Monday sector and so forth. The child may therefore choose symbols and characters which he can use to mark events which he would readily associate with each day of the week. Colouring also may be used to an advantage.For example, the sectors for Saturday and Sunday may be coloured in the same colour to identify the weekend and activities associated with weekends.

Other markings are shown on the rotatable disc 2 of Figure 1. These include for example arrows passing from sector to sector with a sunshine symbol depicting morning and the start of day and a moon depicting the evening and end of day. The arrows which point clockwise indicate the progression of time from day to day through day and night.

An alternative division of the rotatable disc 2 is shown in Figure 6. The sectors 3 of the rotatable disc 2, twelve in number, are labelled January to December. The labelled area of the base board is marked to indicate last month, this month, and next month sectors of the rotatable disc 2. The sectors January to December are numbered 1 to 12. This latter marking of numbers will also familiarise the child with the numbering of months of the year 1 to 12. Pictorial areas 25 inside each of the month labels January to December may bear transfer or other permanent pictorial markings denoting the seasons or other events associated with the months. For this embodiment the drum member 10 is modified for alignment of twelve and not seven sectors as in the previous embodiment. It is thus provided with twelve teeth 14 arranged circumferentially and equally spaced around its periphery.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An educational aid comprising: a base board; a rotatable disc rotatably mounted on said base board; and a manually operable rotation mechanism co-operable with said rotatable disc for rotating said rotatable disc by increments; wherein: the surface area of said rotatable disc is divided into labelled sectors or segments, seven in number, each denoting a day of the week or, alternatively, twelve in number each denoting a month of the year, the unlabelled portion of each sector or segment providing a display area for displaying symbols or characters associable with each respective day or month; said base board has a labelled area visible at the periphery of said rotatable disc and denoting previous, present, and next, day or, alternatively, month, arranged to correspond to adjacent respective and consecutive sectors or segments of said rotatable disc; and said rotation mechanism is co-operable with said rotatable disc to increment the rotatable disc by a one sector or segment rotation at a time in response to manual operation.

2. An educational aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein said base board includes wall mounting means.

3. An educational aid as claimed in either claims 1 or 2 wherein the display area of each sector or segment is write-erasable.

4. An educational aid as claimed in claim 3 wherein said base board includes a holder for holding a marker pencil or other writing instrument for writing erasable symbols or characters upon said display areas.

5. An educational aid as claimed in claim 4 including attached to said holder a marker pencil or other writing instrument for writing erasable symbols or characters upon said display areas.

6. An educational aid as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said rotatable disc is axially mounted on said board.

7. An educational aid as claimed in claim 6 wherein said rotation mechanism is disposed at the centre of said rotatable disc.

8. An educational aid as claimed in claim 7 wherein said rotation mechanism also provides means of attaching said rotatable disc to said base board.

9. An educational aid as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said rotation mechanism is operable to increment the disc in only an anti-clockwise direction.

10. An educational aid as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said rotation mechanism is manually operable by a combined push and rotate action.

11. An educational aid constructed, adapted and arranged to perform substantially as described hereinbefore with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

12. An educational aid comprising a base board, one or more rotatable discs mounted on the base board, and a rotation mechanism or mechanisms for rotating said disc or discs, wherein the surface area of said discs are divided into a multiplicity of sectors or segments, and the base board has labelled areas which appear at the periphery of the or each rotatable disc and contain spaces for information to be read in cooperation with information or other features of the or each sector or segment.