US3785076A

US3785076A - Adjusting mechanism for perpetual calendars

Info

Publication number: US3785076A
Application number: US00195987A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Swensson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-11-05
Filing date: 1971-11-05
Publication date: 1974-01-15
Anticipated expiration: 1991-01-15

Abstract

An adjusting mechanism for calendar pens comprises a pen barrel having an interior toothing near its bottom, and two hollow members, being rotatably adapted within said barrel, one of them bearing indications for years and weekdays and the other indications for dates and months, the former having at one end a toothing cooperating with the toothing of the pen barrel and at its opposite end a reversed toothing cooperating with a similar toothing of the second member, said second member having at its opposite end coupling means for cooperation with a rotatably but not displaceable adjusting member, a spring being adapted to press said first and second member against each other and towards the toothing of the pen barrel.

Description

llnited States Patent [191 Swensson ADJUSTING MECHANISM FOR PERPETUAL CALENDARS Primary ExaminerRobert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-J. H. Wolff Attorney William C. Linton et a].

[5 7] ABSTRACT An adjusting mechanism for calendar pens comprises a pen barrel having an interior toothing near its bottom, and two hollow members, being rotatably adapted within said barrel, one of them bearing indications for years and weekdays and the other indications for dates and months, the former having at one end a toothing cooperating with the toothing of the pen barrel and at its opposite end a reversed toothing cooperating with a similar toothing of the second member, said second member having at its opposite end coupling means for cooperation with a rotatably but not displaceable adjusting member, a spring being adapted to press said first and second member against each other and towards the toothing of the pen barrel.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 ADJUSTING MECHANISM FOR PERPETUAL CALENDARS This invention refers to a so called calendar pen, i.e., a perpetual callendar incorporated in a pencil.

The main object of the invention is to provide a calendar pen which is very easy to set and which may be manufactured in such a size that it is handy and well suited for writing purposes.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the ball point retraction mechanism and FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the calendar mechanism while FIG. 3 is plan extension of the interior of member 18 of FIG. 1.

The illustrated calendar pen comprises a tubular pen barrel 1, which is made from transparent plastic material having opaque portions 2 and 3. Each of said opaque portions has two axially and longitudinally spaced openings or windows 4a, 4b respectively 5a, 5b. Intermediate said opaque portions the pen barrel consequently has a transparent portion 6, extending around the whole periphery of the barrel. The pen barrel has near its bottom an inner circular toothed portion 7. Rotatably mounted in the pen barrel are two tubular members 8 respectively 9, each preferably made from plastic material. The member 8 is at one end provided with a circular toothed portion 10 for cooperation with the teeth of portion 7. As will be apparent from FIG. 2 these toothed portions will allow the member 8 to be rotated only in an counter-clockwise direction. At its opposite end the tubular member 8 has a toothing 11 the teeth of which are reversed relative to the teeth of the

toothings

7 and 10. Said tubular member 8 has a first column 12 showing the seven weekdays SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY and SATURDAY, as well as other columns showing in seven rows the years, whereby the leap years are located at an axial distance from the ordinary years.

The second tubular member 9 has at one end a toothing 14 for cooperation with the toothing ll of member 8. At its opposite end member 9 has coupling dogs 15 for a purpose to be described. Said member 9 has first columns 16 showing the dates of a month, arranged in seven rows and other columns 17 showing the months. The months which idential in ordinary years appear at the same row and the months which are idential in leap years also appear at the same row but they are axially displaced relative to the months just mentioned. The rows of months are correlated with the rows of dates and also the rows of the weekdays are correlated to the rows of the year to obtain the correct readings.

MRCH NOV FEB SUN JUNE MON SEPT DEC TUE JAN APRIL JULY WED OCT JAN THU MAY FRI FEB AUG SAT By the arrangement according to this table every date from 1966 to 1999 may be determined by merely displacing the tables such that year and month are in line.

The parts just described are referred to as the calendar mechanism.

The retracting mechanism for the ballpoint is illustrated in FIG. 1 and comprises a hollow member 18 having at one end coupling dogs 19 adapted to cooperate with the coupling dogs 15 of the second member 9. At its opposite end it has a reduced diameter 20. The hollow member 18 is rotatably mounted in a bushing 21 which holds the pen clip 22 and has a thread 23 by means of which it may be screwed into the pen barrel 1 which for this purpose is provided with an internal thread (not shown). The bushing also has a conical flange 24. The portion 20 of the hollow member projects outside the bushing and secured to said portion by means of for example glueing is a ring 25, which thereby axially fixed the member 18 relative to the bushing. An inner tubular member 26 has near one of its ends two small projections 27 being located opposite each other. Its end portion has cut outs to form for example four triangular teeth 28, adapted to cooperate with correspondingly shaped teeth 29 of a second inner tubular member 30 which is also provided with two oppositely located ribs 31 having its ends obliquely cut.

The hollow member 18 has internal grooves forming shallow recesses 32 and deeper recesses 33 as appears from FIG. 3 which shows the interior of member 18 extended in a plane. The recesses are limited by oblique edges and the deeper recesses also have straight portions. A weak spring 34 acts upon the second inner tubular member 30 and urges it upwards. A pin 35 having a flange, serving as a support for the end of the ball point refill 38 is secured to member 26 but admits member 30 to freely rotate.

The

members

26, 30, 35 are inserted in the hollow member 18 such that member 26 projects above the portion 25 of the bushing and secured to said upwardly projecting portion is a knob 36. Said knob projects above a cap 37 having an internal conical portion corresponding to portion 24 and being secured to bushing 21 by means of glueing or the like.

The retracting mechanism now described differs from the conventional mechanisms in two respects, i.e., in that the member 18 is rotatable and forms a part of the calendar mechanism which reduces the manufacturing costs, and in that the relatively strong spring (not shown) that acts upon the ball point refill to retract it does not act upon the member 30 but only upon member 26 via pin 35. Only the weak spring 34, which is housed in the tubular member 17 and rests against a shoulder therein acts against member 30 which reduces the wear of the

teeth

28, 29 thereby giving an improved function of the mechanism.

When assembled the calendar pen just described functions as follows:

To determine when a certain date falls the year is first set by turning knob 36 counter-clockwise. Owing to the fact that the projections 27 of member 26 are guided in the straight grooves 33 of member 19 said member will rotate with knob 36 and as the coupling dogs 19 of member engage the dogs 15 of member 9 also this one is rotated. The

teeth

11, 14 cause the tubular member 8 to be rotated also. It may be noted that member 8 by means of the snapping teeth is arrested in its correct position. It may also be pointed out that there must be a small axial space between the bottom of teeth 19 and top of teeth 15.

' When the desired year has appeared in the window 5a or 51) knob 36 is turned in the opposite direction. In this case only member 17 is rotated with member 18 as the teeth 7, prevent a clockwise rotation of member 8. The pen is now set and all the dates of the actual month may be read through the transparent portion 6 of the pen barrel. To guide the members 8, 9 and hide the toothing a ring 38', the outer diameter of which being somewhat less than the inner diameter of the pen barrel is adapted over the somewhat reduced

portions

11, 14 of members 8, 9. The pen also has a lower cap 39 which may be unscrewed for replacement of the refill.

I claim:

1. Adjusting mechanism for perpetual calendars which are incorporated in writing implements comprising a barrel and two co-axial tubular members having the same diameter and being rotatably arranged within said barrel, coaxially therewith, said barrel being provided with at least two aligned but axially spaced rectangular openings and a transparent central portion extending all around said barrel and being located intermediate the right and the left opening of the barrel taken in its longitudinal direction, the first of said tubular members having toothing at one end and bearing around its periphery in seven peripherically spaced rows year indications as well as axially spaced therefrom the week day indications in their consecutive order, the second of said tubular members having toothing at one end and positioned around its periphery in seven peripherically spaced rows month indications as well as axially spaced therefrom the month day indications in their consecutive order, arranged in several columns, the openings of said barrel being so dimensioned and located relative to all said indications that the year indications and the month indications will appear, with one row at a time, through the mutually aligned openings while the portions of said tubular members bearing said week day indications and month day indications respectively are visible in several rows through the central, transparent portion of said barrel, wherein said barrel near one end thereof having an inner, annular sawtoothed toothing capable of blocking in one direction, for cooperation with said toothing provided at one end of the first of said tubular members, said first tubular member at its opposite end has a second, oppositely blocking, saw-toothed toothing, engaging said toothing at the adjacent end of the second of said tubular members, said second tubular member having at its opposite end a coupling means, setting means having coupling means capable of cooperating with said second tubular member coupling means and which is rotatably but not displaceably adapted relative to said barrel but which permits a small axial movement of said tubular members relative to said setting means, and a spring, coaxial with said tubular members, being provided to press said second tubular member axially against the first of said tubular members such that the toothing of said second tubular member is held in engagement with said second toothing of the first of said tubular members while the first toothing of said first tubular member is held in engagement with the toothing of said barrel such that turning of said setting means in one direction brings both tubular members to rotate in said direction and turning it in the opposite direction brings only the second of said tubular members to rotate in said opposite direction, and the cooperating toothings having seven blocking positions.

2. Adjusting mechanism as claimed in claim I, wherein said setting means is rotatably arranged in a bushing secured to the barrel, a retracting mechanism for a ball point refill or similar writing instrument having said setting means as a part thereof.

Claims

1. Adjusting mechanism for perpetual calendars which are incorporated in writing implements comprising a barrel and two co-axial tubular members having the same diameter and being rotatably arranged within said barrel, coaxially therewith, said barrel being provided with at least two aligned but axially spaced rectangular openings and a transparent central portion extending all around said barrel and being located intermediate the right and the left opening of the barrel taken in its longitudinal direction, the first of said tubular members having toothing at one end and bearing around its periphery in seven peripherically spaced rows year indications as well as axially spaced therefrom the week day indications in their consecutive order, the second of said tubular members having toothing at one end and positioned around its periphery in seven peripherically spaced rows month indications as well as axially spaced therefrom the month day indications in their consecutive order, arranged in several columns, the openings of said barrel being so dimensioned and located relative to all said indications that the year indications and the month indications will appear, with one row at a time, through the mutually aligned openings while the portions of said tubular members bearing said week day indications and month day indications respectively are visible in several rows through the central, transparent portion of said barrel, wherein said barrel near one end thereof having an inner, annular saw-toothed toothing capable of blocking in one direction, for cooperation with said toothing provided at one end of the first of said tubular members, said first tubular member at its opposite end has a second, oppositely blocking, sawtoothed toothing, engaging said toothing at the adjacent end of the second of said tubular members, said second tubular member having at its opposite end a coupling means, setting means having coupling means capable of cooperating with said second tubular member coupling means and which is rotatably but not displaceably adapted relative to said barrel but which permits a small axial movement of said tubular members relative to said setting means, and a spring, coaxial with said tubular members, being provided to press said second tubular member axially against the first of said tubular members such that the toothing of said second tubular member is held in engagement with said second toothing of the first of said tubular members while the first toothing of said first tubular member is held in engagement with the toothing of said barrel such that turning of said setting means in one direction brings both tubular members to rotate in said direction and turning it in the opposite direction brings only the second of said tubular members to rotate in said opposite direction, and the cooperating toothings having seven blocking positions.

2. Adjusting mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said setting means is rotatably arranged in a bushing secured to the barrel, a retracting mechanism for a ball point refill or similar writing instrument having said setting means as a part thereof.