US2938740A - Office implement - Google Patents

Description

May 31, 1960 R. LEVESQUE OFFICE IMPLEMENT Filed June 6, 1958 l 0 O 8 8 2 s 4 5 r a ll a n w m v m u WIM m U I V O N L. m m m .M n F u d m Am 5 M m e o o 9,. s k 5 Q 5 0.

IN V EN TOR. ROGER LEVESQUE ATTORNEY llnited States Patent OFFICE IMPLEMENT Roger Levesque, 127 Cunningham Ave., Upper Darby, Pa.

Filed June 6, 1958, Ser. No. 740,258

7 Claims. (Cl. 281-16) executives desk. This helter-skelter disposition of these 7 various means frequently results in the harried executive being unable to locate precisely what he is looking for at the moment he most urgently needs the same. For example, it is a frequent occurrence that a. harried executive is unable to locate a slip of paper on which to write a memorandum during a telephone conversation, or is unable to locate a calendar or his diary at the exact instance he needs the same.

This invention has as an object the provision of an ofiice implement in which a plurality of the most commonly used ofiice tools are made available as one unit requiring the minimum amount of space and conferring a high degree of accessibility.

This invention has as another object the provision of an oifice implement for facilitating the day to day activities of business executives.

This invention has as yet another object the provision of an ofiice implement having replaceable diary pages.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

Figure i1 is a plan view of a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the office implement of the present invention is designated 10. Such ofiice implement 10 includes the base 12, which is preferably integrally formed from molded plastic or the like.

The base 12 is tilted upwardly from front to rear, and includes the well 14 for receiving slips of paper 16 in its front portion. The well 14 is defined by the finger rest 18 at the frontmost portion of the base 12, the side walls 20 and 22 and the angularly disposed rear wall 24. It is to be noted that the finger rest 18 is provided with a rear face 26 which is disposed at an angle to the floor 28 of well 14 which is the same as the angle at which the rear wall 24 is disposed to the fioor 28. Thus, slips of paper 16 are urged by the geometry of well 14 forwardly permitting facile removal of such slips of paper 16 from well 14.

The platform 30, preferably formed of relatively rigid ice sheet metal, surmounts the major portion of the well 14, and extends almost to the rearwardmost portion of base 12. The platform 30 may be anchored in slots within base 12, and may be further supported by the rear wall 24 of well 14.

The platform 30 is provided with spaced holes through which the screws 32 extend. Screws 32 are anchored in position by their respective nuts 34.

The leaves 36 comprising a personal phone directory are secured to the platform 30 by the screws 32. The leaves 36 are notched at their free end portions. In particular, the width of the notched free end portions varies depending upon the letter of the personal telephone directory which is carried upon a given leaf. Thus, the leaf which carries the letters A and B is provided with a very shallow notch, the leaf which carries the letters C and D is provided with a relatively wider notch, with the widest notch being carried by the leaf which carries Y and Z. This notching of the leaves 36 enables the hook-shaped selector 38 whose bottom portion 40 includes a laterally extending flange to be used to select a given leaf by moving such selector 38 within the slot 42 of cover member 44. Cover member 44 has a U-shaped cross-section for substantially its entire length, and is pivotally secured by pivots 46 to the'rear of base 12, such pivots 46 extending into the base 12, being threadably or otherwise secured to the base 12.

The legs 48 of cover member 44 extend for the major portion of cover member 44 but are offset in the frontmost portion of the cover member 44 to provide the ears 50 and 52 which rest on the uppermost surfaces of the side walls 20 and 22.

The ears 50 and 52 serve as stop members and maintain the cover member 44 a sutficient height above the platform 30 to provide for the storage of leaves 36.

The cover member 44 is provided with indicia 54 adjacent slot 42, which indicia enable the user of oflice implement 10 to properly position the hook-shaped member 38 so that the desired leaf of the leaves 36 may be selected. In order to examine such leaf, the user of the implement 10 need merely pivot the cover member 44 about pivots 46, raising the same from the leaves 36.

The leaves 56 of a desk diary calendar, such as a desk diary calendar having a leaf for each separate day is carried on the uppermost surface of cover member 44. The leaves 56 are secured in position by means of the screws 58 and their nuts 60. The screws 58 extend through the cover flange 62 which surmounts the upper end portion of the leaves 56. The cover flange62 is provided with a calendar 64.

The leaves 56 may be perforated by a line of perforations adjacent the lowermost edge of the cover flange 62 permitting such leaves 56 to be selectively removed. Alternatively, it is possible to remove the entire leaf by pulling the same away from the screws 58. By providing the screws 58 with large heads, the same may be screwed downwardly to adjust to different inventories of leaves. The base 12 is provided with an integral paper clip receiving well 68 which is spaced from the leaves 56 at one major side thereof, so that the paper clip receiving well 68 runs substantially the entire length of the base '12. The paper clip receiving well 68 forms a reservoir for the receiving of paper clips, and provides a fixed location from which such paper clips may be withdrawn.

It will be seen that the ofiice implement 10 of the present invention provides maximum utility in the minimum volume. It insures the user that all of the necessary oflice tools encompassed within it are readily available for instant use.

In place of the hook-shaped telephone leaf selector disclosed in the illustrated embodiment, it is to be understood that a wide variety of other telephone leaf selectors may be utilized including conventional pushbutton means, and that the specific construction for a suitable telephone leafselector forms no part of the present invention independent of the offic'e implement of the present invention. 1

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended'claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

- I claim:

1. An oflice implement including a base, an exposed paper clip receiving well at one side of said base, a paper clip receiving well in said base, the front end portion of said paper clip receiving well being open and permitting access by the user to paper clips contained within said paper clip receiving well, a first rigid cover surmounting the rear portion of said paper clip receiving well, said first cover being fixedly secured to said base, a plurality of telephone-address leaves carried on top of 'said first cover, said telephone-address leaves being secured to said first cover at their rear portions with their front portions being free, a second rigid cover pivotally secured to said'base and carried above said telephoneaddress leaves, selector means adjacent the front end of said telephone-address leaves for selecting a desired telephone-address leaf whereby the pivotation of said second cover permits access to said selected telephoneaddress leaf, a plurality of leaves mounted on top of said second cover, and means passing through the rear portion of said second cover for retaining said plurality of leaves on top of said second coverr 2. An ofiice implement in accordance with claim 1 which includes means for retaining the second cover spaced above the telephone-address leaves.

3. An oflfice implement in accordance with claim 1 in which the base carries the first and second covers tilted upwardly from front to rear.

4. An oifice implement in accordance with claim 1 in which the paper clip receiving Well extends for but a portion of the length of'the base;

5. An ofiice implement in accordance with claim 1 in which the paper clip receiving well is defined by a rear wall which is angularly disposed, to the floor of said well with the lowermost portion of said wall being spaced at the rear of said Welland with-the remainder of the wall being superposed above the well and by a front wall which rises upwardly away from the floor of said paper clip receiving Well.

- 6. An ofiice implement in accordance with claim 5 in which the juxtaposed portions of the rear and front walls of the paper clip receiving well are substantially parallel to each other. p I V 7. An office implement in accordance with claim 1 in which the paper clip receiving well runs substantially the entire length of said otfice implement and is gen erally parallel to the long sides of the telephone-address leaves and the pad of leaves mounted on top of the second cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 870,789 Lyon Nov. 12, 1907 1,105,835 Radley Aug. 4, 1914 1,441,273 Fuller Jan. 9, 1923 2,551,213 Lang May 1, 1951

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