US3628270A - Perpetual calendar - Google Patents

Abstract

A perpetual calendar shows the day of the week, date of the month, and month, by means of rotatable dials. A small portion of the dials protrudes from the case to enable them to be manually turned. The dials are formed with an integral spring portion which cooperates with teeth on bosses, upon which the dials are mounted, to provide a detent action.

Description

ilnite States atent 350,577 10/1886 Carpenter Inventor Jack Eairchild Fleming Morris Plains, NJ. 878,156

Nov. 19, 1969 Dec. 21, 1971 Sterling Plastics Company Mountainside, NJ.

Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee PERPETUAL CALENDAR Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1 /113 int. Cl C0911 3/08 Field of Search 40/1 13,

References Cited! UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,327,317 1/1920 Fuller 40/113 2,476,560 7/1949 Norgard 235/117 2,774,158 12/1956 Tamoschat. 40/70 2,996,247 8/1961 Shell 40/70 X FOREIGN PATENTS 709,905 6/1954 Great Britain 40/1 13 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-J. H. Wolff Attorneys-Albert C. Johnston and Robert E. lsner ABSTRACT: A perpetual calendar shows the day of the week, date of the month, and month; by means of rotatable dials. A small portion of the dials protrudes from the case to enable them to be manually turned. The dials are formed with an integral spring portion which cooperates with teeth on bosses, upon which the dials are mounted, to provide a detent action.

PATENTEB 05221 19m SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR JACK FAIRCHILD FLEMING ATTOR EY PATENTEU UECZI I97! 3628270 sum 2 BF 2 INVENTOR JACK FAIRCHILD FLEMING gg m ATTOR Y rnnrn'ruAi. cALlsuuAn DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to desk calendars and more particularly to a perpetual calendar having individually rotatable dials which indicate the month, the day of the month and the day of the week. The calendar is perpetual in that it can be used for more than one year.

Desk calendars usually consist of printed calendars having the month, year and day of the year on monthly removable sheets. However, since usually an entire month is shown in a small area, the size of each of the figures and characters is small, making them difficult to read at a glance.

It has been proposed that calendars having rotatabledials be used on desks. Such calendars may use larger characters and numerals. However, such devices may be relatively expensive and complex.

It is the objective of the present invention to provide a per petual calendar, and specifically a desk calendar, which may be read at a glance and which shows the day of the week, the date of the month, and the month, and which, furthermore, may be utilized for a number of years.

It is a further objective of the present invention that the perpetual calendar be manufactured using relatively few parts so that it is relatively low in cost, economical to assemble, and reliable in operation.

In accordance with the present invention, a perpetual calendar is provided having a case molded of two plastic resin members. The front case member has three openings for, respectively, the date of the month, the day of the week, and the month. The front case member also has on its back or inner side two integral protruding bosses having protruding teeth. These bosses are utilized as the spindles for two rotatable dials. The back case member is similarly molded with two bosses for dials on its inner side each having protruding teeth. In order to provide for a slanted front face and yet enable the back to be relatively vertical, the back bosses are each surrounded by an integral dial supporting annulus. Either the front or the back member is provided with flanges, so that the front and back members may be readily joined together, for example, by an adhesive.

Each of the four dials has printed indicia thereon, the first dial having the names of 12 months, the second dial having the names of the 7 days, the third dial having the numerals through 9, and the fourth dial having the numerals ll, 2 and 3. The blanks for all four dials are exactly the same, which enables them to be produced at a relatively low cost. Each of the dials is in the form of a flat disk having a knurled outer edge. A central hole in each of the dials enables them to fit upon the bosses on the front and back members Each of the dials has an integral spring, formed by a cutout portion. The spring is substantially an M-shaped strip portion whose ends are connected with, and integral with, the remainder of the dial.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages hereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment, while the new features of construction and operation claimed as the invention are set forth more particularly in the appended claims.

The detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which:

FIG. I is an end view of the perpetual calendar of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view ofthat calendar;

FIG. 3 is a cross section along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the calendar mechanism taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view, in cross section, of the calendar mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a frontal view taken in the direction of the arrows 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a rear view taken in the direction of the arrows 7 7 in FIG. 5;

FIG. is an enlarged plan view of one of the toothed bosses and its cooperating spring member; and

FIG. 9 is a similar view but of a different boss.

As shown in FIGS. 1-5, the perpetual calendar is enclosed within a case ll having a bottom base and front, back, top and end walls. The case consists of a front member 2 and a back member 3.

The from member 2 has a lower front wall portion 25 and a front face 22 which is at a slant relative to the base of the case. The front face 22 has a first window 4 through which the days of the week show, a second window opening 5 through which the date (days of the month) show, and a third window opening 6 through which the name of the month shows. The front member 2 is formed on its inner side with an integral raised first boss M supporting a dial 9 and a similar second boss 15 supporting a dial lltl. The boss 14 has 12 protruding teeth about its periphery and the boss llS has 7 protruding teeth about its periphery.

The backwall member 3 has an upstanding back portion 11 and a base 2ll. The back member 3 has on its inner side an integral protruding boss 12 supporting a dial 7 and protruding teeth, the number of which is not critical. It also has thereon a second integral boss 13 supporting a dial it and having ten protruding teeth about its periphery.

As shown in FIG. 8, the teeth of boss Ml cooperate with a spring 17 which is a resilient strip integral with the dial 9. Each boss acts as the spindle for the dial supported on it. The spring 117, in cooperation with the teeth, acts to detent the dial and enables the dial to be moved in distinct steps and be retained in place. The strip spring ll7 is formed by a cutout portion 16 which provides a thin flexible resilient M-shaped strip portion, with the ends of the M attached to the body of the dial. Preferably the dial is a molded plastic resin disk in which the spring 17 is molded as an integral portion of the disk. As shown in FIG. 9, the same form of disk blank 10 having a substantially lVl-shaped spring strip 113 is used in cooperation with the boss 15. The boss 15 has seven teeth and the boss 14 has I2 teeth. However, the protruding portion of the spring 17 or 18 is sufficiently narrow so that it fits in the groove between the teeth of a boss even in the case of bosses which have different numbers of teeth.

Each of the dials 7, 8, 9 and has a knurled outer edge which protrudes through slit in the tap or an end wall of the case, specifically, a slit in the tap or an end wall of the front member 2. As shown in FIG. 2, small portions of the dials 7, 8, 9 and I0 protrude through the slits and enable the dials to be manually rotated in order to change the date, days and month.

It is preferable, as illustrated in FIG. 5, that the backwall ll of the back member 3 be vertical relative to its base 211. However, the dials mounted on the back member should be at the same slant as the slant of the front face 22. Consequently, an integral raised annulus is provided as part of the back portion around each of the bosses l2 and 13 in order to support the dials 7 and 3 in slanted position. The annulus 26 is provided around boss 12 and the annulus 27 is provided around boss 13.

The front member 2 has end walls and a top wall 23 having a continuous flange 22 forming a lip which continues at 24 along the base ofits end walls (see FIG. 5). After the dials are positioned on their bosses, the upper end and front edges of the back member 3 are fitted on the flange and the two members are adhered together.

Preferably the dials are molded from suitable plastic resin, such as polystyrene or polyethylene in the same mold, so that only one mold is needed to produce all the dials for the calendar. The front member and back member are produced, also preferably from a suitable resin such as polystyrene or polyethylene in separate molds. The entire perpetual calendar assembly, consequently, consists of only six pieces which may be inexpensively molded from plastic resin and which may be readily assembled.

What is claimed is:

l. A perpetual calendar comprising a case having front and back walls and top and end walls between them, said front wall having a plurality of windows opening therethrough and having two protruding bosses laterally spaced apart on its inner side, said top and end walls having slits opening therethrough,

said backwall having two protruding bosses laterally spaced apart on its inner side, a dial rotatably supported on each of said bosses, each said dial having indicia on its face for exposure through one of said windows by rotation of the dial on its boss, the indicia on said dials comprising names of weekdays and months and numerals to represent the days of a month, the dials on said bosses on said backwall having peripheral portions thereof projecting through respective slits in said top wall to enable rotation thereof and the dials on said bosses on said front wall having peripheral portions thereof projecting through respective slits in said end walls to enable rotation thereof. I

2. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1, one of said windows being centrally disposed in said front wall, said dials on said bosses on said backwall having facial portions thereof lying adjacent to each other in said centrally disposed window to expose therein indicia on both of those dials.

3. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1 said front wall being sloped upwardly and backwardly from the base thereof, said bosses on said backwall protruding therefrom at an angle thereto and having support elements disposed about them to hold the dials on the backwall bosses substantially parallel to the slope of said front wall.

4. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1, each said dial having a central opening therein fitted upon and about its supporting boss to position the dial, each said boss having a series of detents spaced apart about and protruding radially on its periphery, each dial comprising a spring strip spaced from an arcuate segment of its body in the plane thereof and bordering its said opening so as to bear against said detents, each said spring strip having a protruding portion thereof engaging between said detents of the boss in said opening to retain the dial resiliently at any selected one of a number of rotational positions.

5. A perpetual calendar according to claim 4, said series of detents on said bosses on said front wall consisting respectively of seven and 12 detents and said series of detents on the right-hand one of said bosses on said backwall consisting of 10 detents, whereby corresponding numbers of indicia on the dials on said bosses may be exposed selectively through said windows to indicate any selected week day and date of any month.

i I? i t

Claims (5)

1. A perpetual calendar comprising a case having front and back walls and top and end walls between them, said front wall having a plurality of windows opening therethrough and having two protruding bosses laterally spaced apart on its inner side, said top and end walls having slits opening therethrough, said backwall having two protruding bosses laterally spaced apart on its inner side, a dial rotatably supported on each of said bosses, each said dial having indicia on its face for exposure through one of said windows by rotation of the dial on its boss, the indicia on said dials comprising names of weekdays and months and numerals to represent the days of a month, the dials on said bosses on said backwall having peripheral portions thereof projecting through respective slits in said top wall to enable rotation thereof and the dials on said bosses on said front wall having peripheral portions thereof projecting through respective slits in said end walls to enable rotation thereof.

2. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1, one of said windows being centrally disposed in said front wall, said dials on said bosses on said backwall having facial portions thereof lying adjacent to each other in said centrally disposed window to expose therein indicia on both of those dials.

3. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1 said front wall being sloped upwardly and backwardly from the base thereof, said bosses on said backwall protruding therefrom at an angle thereto and having support elements disposed about them to hold the dials on the backwall bosses substantially parallel to the slope of said front wall.

4. A perpetual calendar according to claim 1, each said dial having a central opening therein fitted upon and about its supporting boss to position the dial, each said boss having a series of detents spaced apart about and protruding radially on its periphery, each dial comprising a spring strip spaced from an arcuate segment of its body in the plane thereof and bordering its said opening so as to bear against said detents, each said spring strip having a protruding portion thereof engaging between said detents of the boss in said opening to retain the dial resiliently at any selected one of a number of rotational positions.

5. A perpetual calendar according to claim 4, said series of detents on said bosses on said front wall consisting respectively of seven and 12 detents and said series of detents on the right-hand one of said bosses on said backwall consisting of 10 detents, whereby corresponding numbers of indicia on the dials on said bosses may be exposed selectively through said windows to indicate any selected week day and date of any month.

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