GB2296890A

GB2296890A - A multi-year diary

Info

Publication number: GB2296890A
Application number: GB9605866A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jos Gomes Duarte
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-09-19
Filing date: 1996-03-20
Publication date: 1996-07-17
Also published as: GB9605866D0

Abstract

A diary consisting of diary leaves 12 on which the days of the month are printed, has printed thereon, in relation to each day 16 of the month, the weekday names 18 of that day for two or more consecutive calendar years. The weekday names 18 are arranged in an array such that, by a single marking operation 14, each day of the month can, by the marking, be correlated with a corresponding one of the weekday names, depending on the calendar year for which the diary is to be used. The calendar years 20 in question are also printed on the leaves, in relation to the corresponding weekday names 18. The marking may be made using a pen or by drilling.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO DIARIES This invention relates to diaries, whether of the loose-leaf type or of the type in which the leaves are permanently bound in the form of a book.

A difficulty with existing diaries is that the information printed in the diary changes from year to year. For example, whereas 1 December 1993 fell on a Wednesday, 1 December 1994 fell on a Thursday. This means that a diary that has been printed for one year cannot be used for the following year, even though much of the other information printed in the diary does not change from year to year. Had this not been the case, the diary would have remained perfectly useful for other years. This results in much wastage through surplus print runs and purchases of stock having to be discarded every year. Also, diaries for a particular year are virtually unobtainable during the later part of the year, since by then retailers have already disposed of their stock.It is not worth their while to keep stock beyond the beginning of the year, after most of their customers have made their purchases for that year.

It has been proposed in US patent 4,319,771 to print the names of all seven days of the week on each leaf of a monthly diary, in predetermined positions which are such that, when the leaves are aligned with one another in a stack, they can be marked by punching a hole through the stack in the appropriate position, to correlate each sheet with a corresponding one of the weekday names. An as yet unmarked stack can then be made suitable for any particular month by marking the stack in the appropriate position. To identify the month and year for which the diary has been set, a label with the required information thereon is placed on the cover of the diary.

A drawback of diaries of this kind is that the person who does the marking first has to determine the position of the marking. Whilst, on the face of it, this would seem to be a simple exercise, particularly if a look-up table is provided as an aid, diaries of this kind have not met with the desired level of consumer acceptance.

Another, and perhaps more serious, difficulty with diaries of this kind arises from the need for the weekday names on the various leaves of the stack to be reasonably accurately aligned with one another. Diary leaves are normally made by conventional book-making processes, in which the printed matter that is to appear on the various leaves of what will later form a stack are printed in predetermined positions on a single, large sheet of paper. The sheet is then folded double to form two layers, folded double again to form four layers, folded double again to form eight layers, and so on, until there are as many layers as there are to be leaves in the stack. The folded sheet is then cropped on three or four of its sides, to cut off the folded edge portions on those sides.If a bound diary is being made the folded sheet is cropped on only three of the four sides whereas, if a loose-leaf diary is being made, the folded sheet is cropped on all four sides. With this process, manufacturing tolerances make it difficult to align the printed material on one sheet accurately with that on the other sheets in the stack. If the weekday names on the various leaves in the stack are not aligned with one another accurately enough in relation to the spacing between the weekday names, the marking that is supposed to correlate one of them with the others in the stack becomes ambiguous or difficult to discern at a glance. As a consequence, difficulties have been experienced in attempting to make relatively small diaries, e.g. pocket diaries, of this kind.

The present invention seeks to overcome these difficulties.

According to the invention there is provided a diary which consists of a diary leaf or set of diary leaves on which the days of the month are printed, wherein, in relation to each day of the month, the weekday names of that day for at least two consecutive calendar years are printed in spaced apart positions, the weekday names being arranged in an array such that, by a single marking operation, each day of the month can, by the marking, be correlated with a corresponding one of the weekday names, depending on the calendar year for which the diary is to be used; and wherein each of the respective calendar years are printed in relation to the corresponding weekday names.

With only two weekday names being required per day of the diary, the spacing between the weekday names can be sufficiently large to avoid problems that would otherwise arise from slight misalignments (in the case of a multiple-leaf diaries), even in the case of relatively small pocket diaries.

The number of consecutive calendar years for which the weekday names are printed on said leaf or set of leaves is limited by the size of the leaves, the requirement being that, depending on manufacturing tolerances, there should be a spacing between adjacent weekday names of at least about lOmm (centre to centre), and preferably between about lOmm and 20mm (centre to centre).

Where the diary is of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, the calendar years can be printed on the first page of each month and not on the others, although they could be printed on each page if so required.

Where the diary is of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, the weekday names may be printed along an edge of the leaves, in close proximity to the edge, so that the weekday names can be marked by means of a marker pen along the edge of the stack.

Where the diary is of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, the leaves may be provided in a stack of one year.

The stack may start at the beginning of January and end at the end of December of the same year. The entire one year stack can then be marked by means of a single marking operation. If the stack is to be set for other one year periods, e.g. from the beginning of June to the end of May of the following year, this can be done by splitting the stack and perform two marking operations, one for the period from the beginning of June to the end of December, and the other for the beginning of January to the end of May.

The diary may be in the form of a pocket diary whose leaves are bound along a spine.

With an arrangement as outlined above the problems that are otherwise encountered with print over-runs or over-stocking can largely be eliminated, even when the weekday names of only two consecutive calendar years are printed in relation to each day of the month. Thus, for example, a printer can print, and a retailer can order, stocks in relatively small quantities throughout the year, to meet the demand expected in the short term. In the event of there being left-over stocks that have not been disposed of at the end of the first year, they can still be used during the second year (by appropriate marking). If more stocks are needed the printer will again print, and the retailer order, stocks to meet the expected demand for whatever period is desired. To shorten the period for which stock has to be kept, the printer can print more frequently than once a year.With the overlap of production runs that is possible, problems due to print over-runs or print under-runs can arise only if long-term estimates of demand are relied on and these are considerably far out The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically, in perspective, part of a loose-leaf diary in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 illustrates a page of a loose-leaf diary in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

Referring first to Figure 1, reference numeral 10 generally indicates a loose-leaf diary which comprises a stack of leaves 12. The first two leaves are shown displaced with respect to one another, and the leaves of one month are shown displaced with respect to the leaves of the other months. This is simply for purposes of illustration, the leaves in practice being aligned with one another throughout the stack. There is a leaf for each consecutive pair of days, details concerning the two days in question being printed on opposite sides of the leaf. The diary is printed for the year 1995, but can, because of the features of the invention, also be used for 1996 or 1997 by appropriately marking it as will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

The leaf at the top of the stack, that is, the side thereof that can be seen in the drawing, is for March 1. The other side is for March 2. The next leaf is for March 3 and March 4, the next leaf for March 5 and March 6, and so on.

In respect of each day the name and day of the month are printed on the respective leaf, as shown at 16. In addition, three weekday names are printed on the leaf, in close proximity to the top edge thereof, as shown at 18. Thus, on the first leaf, on the side for March 1, the name of the month (March) and the day of the month (1) are printed and, in addition, the weekday names "Wednesday", "Friday", and "Saturday".

The other side of the leaf (i.e. for March 2) will have printed thereon the name of the month (March) and the day of the month (2) and the weekday names "Thursday", "Saturday", and "Sunday" (in the reverse order when the leaf is turned over), the weekday names being printed in such a way that they are aligned with the weekday names on the side for March 1. In other words, the weekday name "Thursday" on the side for March 2 will be printed in a position directly opposite that of the weekday name "Wednesday" on the side for March 1, and so on.

Likewise, the leaf for March 3 and March 4 has, on the side for March 3, the three weekday names "Friday", "Sunday", and "Monday" printed thereon and on side for March 4, the weekday names "Saturday", "Monday" and "Tuesday".

The spacing between the weekday names (centre to centre) is at least lOmm. The spacing is made as large as possible, depending on the size of the leaves and the number of weekday names that are used for each day. A spacing of between about lOmm and 20mm has been found to be ideal.

In addition, on the leaf for the first of each month, the three calendar years corresponding to the three weekday names are printed, namely "1995", "1996", and "1997", as shown at 20. If the stack is for a full year from January to December of the same year, only the top sheet in the stack need to have the calendar years printed thereon. If the calendar years are printed on the top leaf for each month, it is possible to split the stack anywhere between consecutive months, e.g. if it is desired to make up a diary that extends from June of one year to May of the following year.

If the diary is to be set for the year 1995, a marker pen is run down the top edge of the stack (i.e. across the edges of the sheets), to produce a marking 14. If, on the other hand, the diary is to be used for 1996 or 1997, the marking 14 is made in the position of the year 1996 or 1997, as the case may be.

Preferably, an ink is used that will penetrate deep into the paper so that the marking is readily visible on the face of each individual leaf of the diary. The marking can also be effected by means of an electric drill fitted with a paper drill bit, which drills a hole through the stack in the appropriate position.

With the next year's production diaries are printed which will be intended for 1996, but which will also be suitable, by appropriate marking, for the years 1997 and 1998.

It is to be noted that the year (1995), as also the corresponding weekday name, for which the diary is intended is printed closest to where the month and day of the month (e.g. "March 1") are printed.

This is the position where, because of the proximity, the user will need to rely least on the marking to indicate the year for which the diary has been set.

The other years (1996 and 1997) and corresponding weekday names for which the diary can, if necessary, be used are printed at progressively increasing distances from where the month and day of the month are printed.

* It will be appreciated that provision can be made, on each of the diary leaves, for more than one day of the week. For example, sections corresponding to the days can be printed one below the other. In this event, as before, two or more weekday names will be printed in respect of each day of the week. These may conveniently be printed along the side of the leaves instead of along the top, if it is desired to allow for marking by means of a marker pen as described above.

An example of a leaf of such a diary is indicated by reference numeral 22 in Figure 2. The leaf 22 has holes 24 near one edge thereof for binding purposes, and provision is made on each side of the leaf for, in the example illustrated, three consecutive days. In respect of each day of the month the weekday names of each of the days for, in the example illustrated, five consecutive calendar years are printed in spaced apart positions, as indicated at 26.

In addition, on the leaf for the beginning of a month or, if desired, on each leaf, the calendar years are also printed in relation to the corresponding weekday names, as indicated at 28. In this embodiment the diary is set for a particular year by drilling three holes 30 through the stack in the appropriate positions, making use of an electric drill which is fitted with a paper drill bit.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A diary which consists of a diary leaf or set of diary leaves on which the days of the month are printed, wherein, in relation to each day of the month, the weekday names of that day for at least two consecutive calendar years are printed in spaced apart positions, the weekday names being arranged in an array such that, by a single marking operation, each day of the month can, by the marking, be correlated with a corresponding one of the weekday names, depending on the calendar year for which the diary is to be used; and wherein each of the respective calendar years are printed in relation to the corresponding weekday names.

2. A diary as claimed in claim 1, being of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, wherein the calendar years are printed at least on the first leaf of each month.

3. A diary as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the spacing between adjacent weekday names is at least lOmm (centre to centre).

4. A diary as claimed in claim 3, wherein the spacing between adjacent weekday names is between about lOmm and 20mm (centre to centre).

5. A diary as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, being of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, wherein the weekday names are printed along an edge of the leaves, in close proximity to the edge, so that the weekday names can be marked by means of a marker pen along the edge of the stack.

6. A diary as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, being of the multiple-leaf type consisting of a stack of leaves, wherein the leaves are provided in a stack of one year.

7. A diary substantially as herein described and illustrated.