US3371571A

US3371571A - Page-turning assembly

Info

Publication number: US3371571A
Application number: US422310A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edmund C Barbera
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-12-30
Filing date: 1964-12-30
Publication date: 1968-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 1985-03-05

Description

March 5, 1968 E. c. BARBERA 3,371,571

PAGE-TURNING ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 50, 1964 FIG. I. 34 3 FIG. 2A.

INVENTOR EDMUND C. BARBERA ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,371,571 PAGE-TURNING ASSEMBLY Edmund C. Barbera, 55 Hillandale Road, Rye, N.Y. 10580 Filed Dec. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 422,310 7 Claims. (Cl. 84-502) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A page-turning apparatus for a book which includes an easel for supporting a book in an upright, open position. A shaft extends transversely with the easel and is mounted for turning movement about an axis parallel and offset from the spine of a book supported on the easel. Arms extend laterally from opposite ends of the shaft and include page-gripping fingers which normally overlie and engage the page adjacent the upper and lower edges of the book. The invention further includes means for biasing the shaft in one direction and means for rotating the shaft in the opposite direction to move the arms through a page-turning sweep of substantial circumference so that the uppermost page at one side of the book is turned by the gripping fingers to the other side of the book as the fingers move laterally out of gripping contact with the page.

This invention relates to improvements in page-turning assemblies.

So-called page-turning assemblies have been utilized for turning the pages of a book without the need for actually touching the book by the operator. Such page-turning assemblies have been of particular advantage in the music field where, for example, by operating a foot pedal a musician may turn the pages of the music without the necessity of taking his hands off the instrument.

Additionally, similar page-turning assemblies have been found particularly advantageous in hospitals where patients who are otherwise prevented from moving their hands may still have the pages of a book automatically turned without the need to touch the leaves of the book.

While a number of such page-turning assemblies have been disclosed in the prior art, they all suffer from the same disadvantages in that they are unnecessarily complicated in construction and they are uneconomical to manufacture.

One example of the prior art type of page-turning assembly is shown in Patent No. 2,236,337, issued to C. Eccher on Mar. 25, 1941. This patent discloses a music rack for mounting a book in an upright position. Two shafts are rotatably mounted thereon and are respectively offset to the right and to the left of the spine of the book. The shafts are provided with right and left hand frames which normally respectively surround the edges of the right hand and left hand pages of the book. Each frame is adapted to be rotated 180 upon depression of an appropriate foot pedal. Two laterally spaced magnetic armatures are provided along the outer edge of the left hand page and two laterally spaced magnetic armatures are provided along the outer edge of the right hand page; the armatures on the right hand page and the'armatures on the left hand page are positioned so they do not overlie each other when the pages are superimposed on one another. The right hand frame is provided with two magnets which are positioned to overlie and contact the armatures on the left hand page when said right hand frame is rotated 180. Similarly, the left hand frame is provided with two magnets which are positioned to overlie and contact the armatures on the right hand page when the left hand frame is rotated 180 to contact the right hand page. The assembly is operated by depressing either the pedal which controls the left hand frame or the pedal which controls the right hand frame thereby rotating the ice particular frame approximately 180 until the magnets associated with that frame contact the armatures on the opposite page. The frame is'biased back to its normal position and, in rotating back to its normal position, the frame carries the page with it because of the attraction between the magnets and the armatures. Since the axis of rotation of the frame is offset with respect to the spine of the book the frame will move laterally out of contact with the page after the latter is turned'to the other side of the book thereby effecting the turning of the pages of the book. This device suffers from the inherent drawbacks that the length of the frames must be readjusted each time a different book is placed on the rack so the frames lie just outside the edges of the book. Moreover, the frames must be rotated a full 180 before the page is contacted and then the frame must be rotated backward to turn the page. Thus, this type of assembly unnecessarily increases pageturning time. This drawback is of particular importance when the assembly is utilized in conjunction with a music book where the pages must be turned practically instantaneously. Furthermore, the magnets and the associated armatures must be positioned exactly on center else the device will be inoperative (i.e. the magnets will not contact the associated armatures). It is therefore obvious that a device such as that described above is unnecessarily cornplicated in construction and extremely time consuming to operate.

The present invention relates to a page-turning assembly which is considerably simpler in construction than those of the prior art and, in particular, that disclosed in the above-noted patent to Eccher. Thus, the present invention comprises an easel which is provided with means for supporting a book in an upright, open position. A shaft extends transversely with the easel and is mounted for turning movement about an axis which is parallel to and offset from the spine of a book supported on the easel. A pair of arms project laterally from opposite ends of the shaft and terminate in magnets which are positioned to normally overlie and engage the respective upper and lower edges of a page at one side of the book. The upper and lower edges of the book are pro- I vided with strips of magnetic material. A spring biases the shaft in a normal direction in which the magnets are maintained in engagement with the magnetic strips on said one side of the book. Means are provided for selectively rotating the shaft in a direction opposite to e the normal direction to move the arms through a pageturning sweep of approximately whereby the uppermost page at the one side of the book is turned (by the attractive force between the magnets and the magnetic strips) to the other side of the book. Since the axis of the rod is offset from the spine of the book the magnets move laterally out of contact with the page as the page is turned to the other side of the book. It is an object of the present invention to provide a page-turning assembly which is extremely simple in construction and economical to manufacture.

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the page-turning assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a rear elevation view, with parts broken away, of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detailed view, to enlarged scale, of the rotation device shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is second embodiment of the present invention to a smaller scale The figures are substantially to scale of a working model of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the device of the present invention comprises an easel which, in the preferred embodiment, may be composed of wood. Easel 10 is connected to a conventional music stand which comprises a rod to which the supporting legs 16 are connected. This mechanism is conventional and will not be described in detail, it being understood that legs 16 may be folded to be parallel with an superimposed upon tube 15.

An angle iron 11, having an outwardly projecting leg 11A and downwardly projecting leg 11B, is mounted on easel 10 by screws 12 which pass through appropriate apertures in leg 11B and are screwed into easel 10.

Bands

13A, 13B are respectively located adjacent each end of angle iron 11 and contain extensions (not shown) which are sandwiched between the back of angle iron 11 and easel 10 to frictionally maintain

bands

13A, 13B in place.

Bands

13A, 13B respectively contain downwardly extending bores 14A, 14B therethrough. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, leg 11A of angle iron 11 is adapted to support the bottom edge of a book thereon.

A shaft 30 extends transversely with easel 10 and is rotatably mounted on the rear of easel 10 by a pair of bands 31 which are respectively located adjacent the upper and lower edges of easel 10. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 2A, bands 31 extend laterally across shaft 30 and are provided with a raised center portion which receives shaft 30 therein. Screws 32 pass through appropriate apertures adjacent each end of the bands 31 to maintain the bands in position. Washers 33 are affixed to shaft 30 above bands 31 to prevent the downward movement of shaft 30 relative to easel 10.

A pair of

arms

34 and 35 extend laterally from opposite ends of shaft 30 and terminate in

respective projections

36 and 37 which extend transversely toward each other.

Projections

36 and 37 have

respective magnets

38 and 39 connected to their ends, in any conventional manner as by inserting the magnets in wire loops which surround the peripheries of the magnets. As shown in FIG. 1,

magnets

38 and 39 are in the form of rectangles and are positioned to respectively overlie and engage the respective upper and lower edges of book 20. The coiled torsion springs 40 and 41 are located adjacent the ends of shaft 30 and bias shaft 30 in a normal or counterclockwise direction as taken in FIG. 1 to maintain

magnets

38 and 39 in engagement with the left hand page of book 20. Thus, spring 40 is provided with transversely extending ends 40A and 40B which respectively engage arm 34 and the top edge of easel 10 thereby biasing arm 34 to the left. Similarly, spring 41 is provided with transversely extending ends 41A and 4113 which respectfully engage arm 35 and the bottom edge easel 10 thereby biasing arm 35 to the left. Book 20 is provided with strips 42 adjacent the upper and lower edges of the left hand and right hand pages. These strips may be of paramagnetic or ferromagnetic material; however, ferromagnetic strips are preferable in the present invention. These strips may be connected to the respective pages by any conventional means as by glueing. Moreover, the strips need only extend inwardly from the outer edges of the book a short distance suflicient to allow the

magnets

38 and 39 to contact the strips 42 rather than having the strips extend the full width of the pages.

Magnets

38 and 39 act as gripping fingers which grip the left hand page by means of the magnetic coupling between

magnets

38 and 39 and strips 42.

Arms

34 and 35 and therefore

projections

36 and 37 are adapted to make a page-turning sweep of approximately 150. That is,

magnets

38 and 39 are adapted to be rotated from the left hand side of easel 111 to the right hand side of easel 10. This rotation is effected by the rotation mechanism indicated generally by the numeral 42. More particularly, rotation mechanism 42 includes an outwardly extending rod 43 having a perpendicularly downwardly projecting portion 44 at one end thereof which is rotatably received in bore 14A. of band 13A. The other end of rod 43 is provided with a similar downwardly projecting portion 45 to which one end of a chain 46 is connected. The other end of chain 46 is connected to the approximate center of projection 37 by any conventional means as by passing through an aperture therein. It is to be noted that chain 46 is by way of example not by way of limitation. That is, chain 46 may be replaced by a cord or even by a rigid element without departing from the scope of the invention. Rotation of

arms

34, 35 and, concomitantly, rotation of the

magnets

38 and 39 through the aforementioned page-turning sweep is controlled by a perpendicularly upwardly projecting rod 47 which abuts rod 43 and is movable toward the right as indicated by arrow 48 in FIG. 1 by depression of a pedal control 49.

Pedal control is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 and comprises a frame 60 having a base 60A and laterally extending, upwardly projecting

side walls

60B, 60C. A shaft 49 extends longitudinally in frame 60 and is journalled in means (not shown) for rotational movement. Shaft 49 is connected to rod 47 (FIG. 4); hence clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation of shaft 49 as taken in FIG. 4 will respectively cause shaft 47 to move to the left or to the right as taken in FIG. 1. A bevel gear 49 is afiixed to shaft 50, intermediate its ends, and is rotatable therewith. A second bevel gear 55 is in meshing engagement with gear 50 and is fixedly mounted on a shaft 56, intermediate its ends, and is rotatable therewith. Shaft 56 extends laterally in frame 60 and the ends of shaft 56 are respectively journalled in

side walls

60B, 60C. In other words, shaft 56 is perpendicular to the shaft 49 so that the rotation of the shaft 56 in one plane causes rotation of the shaft 49 in a perpendicular plane. A pinion 57 is similarly fixedly mounted on shaft 56 adjacent one end of the shaft. The

foot pedals

51 and 52 are pivotally connected to side walls 60B, 600 by the respective

pivotal connections

64 and 65.

Foot pedals

51 and 52 respectively terminate in gear segments 66 and 67 which are in meshing engagement with pinion 57 on either side thereof. Spring 53 is located between base 60A and the bottom of pedal 52 and biases pedal 51 upwardly. Similarly, spring 54 is located between the bottom of pedal 51 and base 60 and biases pedal 52 upwardly. De pression of pedal 51 will cause rotation of shaft 56 in the clockwise direction, as taken in FIG. 3, through the connection of gear segment 66 and pinion 57. This action will cause shaft 49 to rotate in the counter-clockwise direction as taken in FIG. 4, through the connection of gears of 55 and 50, to thereby move rod 47 in the direction indicated by arrow 48. It will now be obvious that depression of pedal 52 will cause rod 47 to move in a direction opposite to arrow 48 (i.e., toward the left).

In the illustrative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the pages of book 20 are adapted to be turned from left to right.

Thus, book 20 is placed on easel 10 and is supported by angle iron 11 in the manner indicated above. It is to be noted that the spine 21 of book 20 is located laterally offset to the left of shaft 30. When it is desired to turn the page, pedal 51 is depressed by the foot of the operator thereby causing rod 47 to move in the direction indicated by arrow 48. Rod 43 will therefore move toward the right, about portion 44 thereby swinging

arms

34, 35 outwardly and toward the right, about the axis of shaft 30, and against the bias of

springs

40, 41. Hence,

magnets

38 and 39 will cause the left hand page to rotate forwardly. Since spine 21 is offset with respect to the axis of shaft 30,

magnets

38 and 39 will move laterally outwardly as the left hand page is turned over onto the right hand page thereby releasing the page and allowing it to fall onto the right hand side of the book thereby effecting the turning of the page.

If it is desired to rotate the pages of the book from right to left then the book 20 is placed with the spine 21 laterally offset to the right of shaft 30.

Springs

40 and 41 may be compressed until respective transversely extending ends 40A, 40B, and 41A, 41B are free. Shaft 30 may then be rotated so

magnets

38 and 39 overlie and engage strips 42 on the right hand pages of the book whereupon springs 40 and 41 may be positioned to bias the respective arms into contact with the right hand portion of the book. Projection 44 of rod 43 is received in bore 14B of band 13B and pedal control 49 is rotated 180 so pedal 52 is nearest the operator and rod 47 again abuts rod 43. When pedal 52 is depressed, rod 47 will move toward the left in the manner indicated above, to thereby effect page-turning from right to left by the same op eration as page-turning is effected from left to right.

A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 5. This particular arrangement is adapted to be mounted on a desk D and page-turning may be effected directly by the knee of the operator rather than by the arrangement comprising rod 47 and pedal control 100. Thus, the operative elements remain as shown in connection with the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1 with the exception that tube 15 and feet 16 have been replaced by a rear support 7t). More particularly, rear support 70 comprises a rectangular shaped element which extends laterally with easel and is hingedly connected to the rear surface of easel 10 by the hinge 73. Support 70 is adapted to be swung to a position whereby the bottom edge of support 79 is spaced from the bottom edge of easel 10, as shown in FIG. 5, to maintain easel 10 erect. Stop means (not shown) are provided to limit the movement of the bottom edge of support 70 away from easel 10. Moreover, additional means (not shown) are provided to lift easel 10 sulficiently to allow arm 35 to clear desk D.

In operation, rod 43 is positioned to be engaged by the knee of the operator. Hence, movement of the knee toward the right will effect page-turning in the same manner as page-turning is effected in the preferred embodiment. It is to be noted that the device shown in FIG. 5 is ideally suited for use in a hospital where a patient cannot use his hands.

Thus, in accordance with the above-mentioned objects, a page-turning assembly has been provided which is substantially simpler in construction and operation than prior art page-turning devices.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it will become obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A support and page-turning assembly for a book, said arrangement comprising an easel; means on said easel for supporting a book in an upright, open position; a shaft extending transversely with said easel and mounted for turning movement about an axis parallel to the spine of a book supported on said easel; a pair of arms projecting laterally from the opposite ends of said shaft; biasing means urging said shaft in a normal direction in which said arms are maintained in a page-holding position; each of said arms terminating in a page-gripping finger positioned to normally overlie and engage the upper and lower edges of a page at one side of the open book mounted thereon under the action of said biasing means; means for selectively rotating said shaft in the opposite direction to move said arms through a pageturning sweep of substantially 150, whereby the upper most page at said one side of the book is turned by said gripping fingers to the other side of said book; the axis of said shaft being off-set from the spine of said book whereby said fingers move laterally out of gripping contact with said page after the latter is turned to said other side.

2. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book as defined in claim 1, wherein said page-gripping fingers comprise magnets adapted to engage manetic strips connected to the respective upper and lower edges of the pages of said book.

3. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for selectively rotating said shaft includes a rod rotatably mounted on said easel, connecting means connecting one of said pair of arms and said rod, and means abutting said rod and movable in a direction away from said arms to rotate said rod away from said arms, whereby said connecting means causes said arms to move through said pageturning sweep.

4. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book as defined in claim 1, wherein said biasing means is adapted to bias said shaft in a direction opposite to said normal direction to urge said fingers into contact with said other side of the book; said means for selectively rotating said shaft in the opposite direction being adapted to selectively rotate the shaft in the normal direction when said biasing means urges the arms in said opposite direction; and the spine of said book being adapted to be offset on the other side of said shaft, whereby the uppermost page at said other side of said shaft is turned by said gripping fingers to said one side of said book to effect page-turning in the opposite direction.

5. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book as defined in claim 1, and stand means for supporting said easel in an upright position, said stand means comprising a tube connected to said easel, and legs provided at the other end of said tube for maintaining said tube and easel erect.

6. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book comprising an easel, a shaft extending transversely with said easel and mounted for turning movement about a first axis; book support means on said easel for supporting a book in an upright, open position with the spine of said book lying on a second axis laterally offset from said first axis; a pair of arms projecting laterally from the opposite ends of said shaft; biasing means urging said shaft in a first direction to maintain said arms in a normal position; each of said arms terminating in pagegripping fingers adapted to slidingly engage the pages of a book, the distance between said fingers and said first axis being substantially greater than the distance between said fingers and said second axis, and means for selectively rotating said shaft in a direction opposite to-said first direction to effect turning of the pages of a book.

7. A supporting and page-turning assembly for a book as defined in claim 6, wherein said page-gripping fingers comprise permanent magnets adapted to contact longitudinally extending magnetic strips on the pages of a book located adjacent top and bottom edges of the book.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 321,599 7/1885 Hathaway 84521 2,025,510 12/1935 Hysmith 84-521 2,391,174 12/ 1945 Malletta 84503 FOREIGN PATENTS 247,5 23 5/ 1912 Germany.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

E. C. SIMMONS, Assistant Examiner.