US3001307A

US3001307A - Desk calendar and lighter

Info

Publication number: US3001307A
Application number: US94944A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fredda F S Sieve
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-03-10
Filing date: 1961-03-10
Publication date: 1961-09-26
Anticipated expiration: 1978-09-26

Description

Sept. 26, 1961 F. F. s. SIEVE 3,001,307

DESK CALENDAR AND LIGHTER Original Filed April 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HWI HIHHIi p 1961 F. F. s. slEv 3,001,307

DESK CALENDAR AND LIGHTER Original Filed April 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 3,001,307 DESK CALENDAR AND LIGHTER Fredda F. S. Sieve, 450 E. 63rd St., New York 21, N.Y. Continuation of application Ser. No. 809,849, Apr. 29, 1959. This application Mar. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 94,944 3 Claims. (ill. 40-407) This invention relates to a desk lighter in the form of a dodecahedron. Of the twelve surfaces of the dodecahedron, one, the top, contains the lighter and the other eleven contains either the months of the year or the signs of the zodiac. The bottom surface has a reversible insert to that the twelfth month or sign of the zodiac can appear on the reverse side.

It is one of the objects of the invention to provide a dodecahedron desk lighter which will incorporated features of a lighter and a desk calendar.

Another object of the invention is to provide a desk lighter in the shape of a dodecahedron in which the surfaces of the dodecahedron contain the months of the year or the signs of the zodiac, the top and bottom surfaces of the dodecahedron being open so that a lighter and a reversible bottom insert can be inserted therein, the reversible bottom insert containing a different month of the year or sign of the zodiac on each side.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dodecahedron desk lighter and calendar in which five of the first six months of the year appear on one half of the dodecahedron and five of the latter six months on the other half of the dodecahedron, the additional two months appearing on each side of a reversible bottom insert and a lighter being mounted on the top, whereby the desk lighter and calendar may be used as a lighter and dates for five of the first six months may be read with the lighter on top without turning the calendar over and dates for five of the last six months may likewise be read with the lighter on top without turning the calendar over by reversing the position of the lighter and the reversible bottom insert.

Another object of the invention is to simplify the manufactur'e of a dodecahedron desk lighter and calendar by providing a dodecahedron which can be made in two parts of plastic material and the two parts cemented together to provide a complete regular dodecahedron with twelve regular pentagonal sides, having separate inserts for the lighter and for -a reversible bottom piece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hollow dodecahedron desk lighter and calendar with weighting material on the inside thereof whereby the lighter will remain in whatever position it may be placed due to the flat side it rests upon and due to the weighting material.

Various other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as this description proceeds.

Referring now to the drawings which illustrate a preferred form of embodiment of my invention,

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of the desk lighter and calendar showing the lighter at the top and various months of the year on the other surfaces of the dodecahedron;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded side view of the various components of the desk lighter and calendar showing the lighter insert, the spacing gasket, the dodecahedron having the top and bottom surfaces cut away and the reversible bottom insert;

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of one side of the reversible bottom insert;

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of the opposite side of the reversible bottom insert from that shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the desk lighter and calendar showing the lighter at the top and the various zodiac signs of the months of the year on the other surfaces of the dodecahedron.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the dodecahedron desk lighter and calendar has the lighter I inserted into the top thereof, the body 2 of the lighter having a dodecahedron shape with twelve faces each in the shape of a regular pentagon. The lighter 1 is mounted in the top 15 of the body 2 by means of a pentagon-shaped spacing gasket 3 having an opening 24 the diameter of the lighter 1. A reversible bottom insert 4 is mounted on the bottom 16 of the body 2. Of the five side surfaces in the top half of the dodecahedron body 2,

surfaces

5, 6 and 7 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and 8 and 9 are invisible. On each of these five surfaces is applied a month of the year, such as January to May, February to June, etc. Of the five side surfaces on the bottom half of the dodecahedron body 2,

surfaces

10 and 11 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and surfaces 12, 13 and '14 are invisible. On each of these five surfaces is likewise molded a month of the year, so that the top half of the dodecahedron body 2 contains five months of the year and the bottom half of the dodecahedron body 2 contains five months of the year.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the months of the year are portrayed in consecutive order; the months, however, can be in any order, such as random, consecutive on a calendar year basis, consecutive on a fiscal year basis, etc. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the zodiac signs of the months of the year can be utilized in place of the calendar months of the year. The order of months on the five side surfaces on the top half and five side surfaces on the bottom half of the dodecahedron body 2 can be consecutive, i.e. from January to October. The remaining two months of the year, 22 and 23, are molded on each side of the reversible bottom insert 4 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The dodecahedron body 2 is reversible so that when in use the lighter and calendar are assembled ordinarily in position so that the months of the current half of the year are at the top of the dodecahedron body 2 with the exception of the one month on the bottom. By this arrangement any month except the one on the bottom in the first halfof the year may be read conveniently with the lighter 1 on top by merely turning the desk lighter and calendar to the proper position, and as illustrated in FIG. 1 it is possible to read two consecutive months of the calendar from the side view. By turning the dodecahedron body 2 over so that the months of the first half of the year are on the bottom and reversing the reversible bottom insert 4 and lighter 1, any month in the second half of the year, except the one on the bottom, may be read conveniently by merely turning the calendar to the proper position while the lighter 1 still remains in usable position on the top of the dodecahedron.

Each face of the dodecahedron body 2 is composed of a regular pentagon and the body is produced by a plastic molding operation in which sides 5 to 9 as indicated in FIG. 1 are molded in one integral piece and similarly sides 10 to 14 are molded in one integral piece with a calendar of one month of the year molded in each of the ten sides, so that when the two halves of the body are brought together and cemented or otherwise secured a regular dodecahedron is produced from the two parts of plastic molded material as described in greater detail in my Patent No. 2,797,512.

Before or after securing the two parts together a shiftable weighting material, which may be sand, shot, liquid or any other desired weighting material, is preferably placed in a container inside one half of the molded body. After the two halves of the dodecahedron body 2 have been secured together the shiftable weighting material will shift to the bottom half of the body as the position of the desk lighter and calendar is changed to give it the necessary weight to maintain it in position. If desired, a weighting material may be permanently secured in the top and bottom halves of the calendar and the shiftable weighting material omitted.

The edges of the meeting halves of the molded plastic material are preferably bevelled so as to provide a wider joining surface to facilitate cementing or otherwise securing the two halves of the calendar together and to provide a wider meeting face for the two halves while they are being assembled together. Any suitable adhesive such as a thermosetting or thermoplastic resin may be used to secure the two halves of the dodecahedron body 2 or they may be secured by heat and pressure without an additional adhesive if the plastic material is of such a nature that it may be fused together by heat and pressure.

The lighter 1 is a conventional lighter having a body 18 the same diameter as the opening 24 in gasket 3 and smaller in diameter than the pentagon surface of the dodecahedron body 2. This lighter has a rim 17 in greater diameter than the body 18 and conventional striker arm 19 actuating a revolving knurled wheel which strikes a spark from a flint in the direction of the wick which is exposed at the stroke of the striker arm 19 by the elevation of the snufier 20.

The gasket 3 is made from a more flexible plastic material than is the body 2 in order to adjust for small variations in the diameter of the bodies of the lighters and small variations in the openings and 16 of the dodecahedron.

The lighter 1 and gasket 3 can be attached to either the top opening 15 or bottom opening 16 of the dodecahedron body 2 and can be held in place by any conventional means, preferably a press fit. I have found that if the

openings

15 and 16 are very slightly smaller than the diameter of the lighter body 18, there is sufiicient expansion of the plastic material and the lighter is held in place by friction alone. Since it is possible to allow the lighter to remain permanently in place in either of

openings

15 or 16 at the inconvenience of picking up and reversing the desk lighter and calendar to read the months on the bottom half of the dodecahedron body 2, the lighter 1 and gasket 3 may be permanently secured in place by any of the adhesives mentioned above.

The reversible bottom insert 4 is molded with flanges 21 on both surfaces of the insert. These flanges 21 are narrow and of suflicient size to justfit into

openings

15 and 16 and to be held therein by friction. The flange opposite that inserted in the

openings

15 or 16 acts as a footing for the dodecahedron desk lighter. This reversible bottom insert is molded from the same flexible plastic material as used in the gasket 3.

Conveniently, the dodecahedron body 2 may be molded of polystyrene and the gasket 3 and reversible bottom insert 4 may be molded of polyethylene.

The surfaces 59, 10-14 and

reversible surfaces

22 and 23 may have molded therein or imprinted thereon either the twelve months of the year or the twelve signs of the zodiac with surfaces 59 and 10-14 containing consecutive months or signs. At the convenience of the user, fiscal years rather than calendar years may be shown on the calendar surfaces. In addition advertising material may likewise be molded or imprinted on the surfaces of the dodecahedron body 2 and reversible bottom insert 4.

While I have described a specific form of embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of 4 the following claims.

This application is a continuation of application Serial No. 809,849, filed April 29, 1959, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture, a regular dodecahedron lighter base and desk calendar having a top surface with an opening therein, an adapter in said opening to hold a lighter, the eleven remaining sides having five months of the year on the top half thereof, five months of theyear on the bottom half thereof and a reversible insert on the bottom surface having one of the remaining months on one side and the other remaining month on the other side, said adapter and said reversible insert being interchangeable.

2. The dodecahedron lighter base and desk calendar of claim 1, wherein the months of the year are represented by calendar months.

3. The dodecahedron lighter base and desk calendar of claim 1, wherein said months of the year are represented by zodiac months.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 423,771 France Feb. 24, 1911